Fox

Found out at the start of the month that the leasing office wants to raise my rent by...quite a lot. Got so distracted by a rush of house-hunting (still in progress! I'm not going to be out on the street, but a cheaper place would be nice....) that thread counts completely skipped my mind. Gaian Knight & Tiamat >Back in the Day (2) >Getting Your Shots In (4) 2+4= 6 posts Dragonfly >By All His Engines (1) >Mystery at Bedside Manor (8) 1+8= 9 posts Wraith >Night Rings (2) 2 posts Ref point to Gaian Knight.

"Understood, Gabriel," came a reply. "This is Gaian Knight and Tiamat - we're just finishing up something here, back in a minute tops." The dozen or so rough-looking punks bound up in earthen cuffs didn't seem to have any major objections to being left alone. Any hopes of escape died in their eyes when Tiamat loomed over them, though, one glaring red eye staring them down while a couple of boxes still burned as testament to her wrath. "You lot are lucky," she insisted, rather pointedly prodding one of them in the chest with her mace. "If we catch you pushing Zoom again, there isn't gonna be enough of you left to cuff." "C'mon, Tiamat." At the wave of a glove-clad hand, a set of rocks pulled themselves together into an archway, the empty space inside filling with soft golden light. Across the city, just outside Freedom Hall, an oddly-marked rock pulled itself up off the ground to form the keystone of a perfectly matching portal. "It sounds urgent; we should get a move on. Leave these guys for the police."

Well, Fleur gets a lot of mileage out of her teleport but it isn't GK's only means of getting around! I'll just say he was elsewhere in the city and have him teleportal back. Presumably he has an anchor stone by the League HQ.

"God. Queen. God-Queen," Tiamat dismissively defended, before turning to Paige with a look that was quite possibly genuine hurt. "And I'm hurt!" she said, even her accent shifting to something a bit more proper and slightly British. "You think my reign would be such a violent one? I'm not interested in sacrifices; my brief reign would be benevolent-" Gaian Knight had his head in his hands. "Tiamat." "-and kind, the wisdom of centuries guiding my subjects to a better future-" "Tiamat." "-without sacrifices, other than maybe a simple donation of precious metals and gems as a tribute to my own glorious--" "Tiamat. No. Just...just no." She sniffed, crossing her arms and screwing her face up into an amused pout. "No, of course not," she sighed. "Heaven forbid I have any fun."

Tagging.

"What?" Gaian Knight's head spun back toward Kit, the brow above his goggles furrowed in concern. "That was a joke - you can't seriously-" He cut off, casting a concerned look Tiamat's way - and for good reason, it seemed. His redheaded companion was grinning ear to ear in an expression more suited to a shark than a woman. "Hahahahah. I like you, kid. Your plans sound fun," she admitted - complimented? - and for a moment her crimson eyes seemed to burn with fire. "Y'might want to run it by me, though; I'm all for becoming queen of the lizard people, but all that's gonna do is draw a lot of attention and make some of the humans distressed. What else y'got going that you need that flashy a spectacle for?"

APPROVED!

Fair points, all; nice catch. I'd forgotten about our change to Communication...or, rather, I forgot that I hadn't already accounted for it. Rules are easier to remember when building new things! I've added the One-Way flaw to her Radio Communication, and taken the Area extra to compensate; I've added the Selective feat, for a little more fine control. I've also added the base Radio Sense to her super-sense suite. That's a net +2pp cost, which I've evened out by removing the Radius Vision super-sense. Not a huge loss, but I'll have to add that back in next time I have points - give her some time to get used to juggling the drone feeds, heh. The overhead on the search & rescue Communication is a good thought. I'd originally built the power separate from the others, but as you note the two-way on that is awfully redundant with the ESP, which already represents the return feed to Dragonfly. I've pulled the same trick here: +Area, -One-Way, +Selective, +Subtle (for the link to Dragonfly, not the end verbal communication itself! Obviously you can overhear if you're right near the endpoint, you just can't intercept it and get anything intelligible mid-transmission). And as I appear to have the points in the slot still, so +Subtle on the ESP, for kicks - spy mode deserves cloaking, but a particularly sharp-sensed villain will still catch it mid-spying, as well they should. No need to balance pp, as it still fits in the array budget. Her half-immunity to mental effects is an artifact of the old mental/psionics confusion, before we got that sorted. She should have half-immunity to psionics, having the psychic equivalent of scar tissue, and I've made that update as well.

Putting this in as a new sheet to replace >this one; a bit too much has changed to make it easy to do basic edits. Minor updates to fluff (largely correcting poor writing on my part, and some trimming, alongside updating her age and the like); otherwise it's mostly a straight PL gain and a major revision to her main offensive array, along with some increased skills, saves, and the retirement of The Lab as an actual HQ. It's the suit array that makes it hard to do as a straight edit, honestly - it throws the math pretty far off when comparing it to her older sheet.

Player Name: Fox Character Name: Dragonfly Power Level: 12 (15) (234/250pp) [261] Trade-Offs: +2 Defense / -2 Toughness Unspent PP: 18 In Brief: Bitter young genius out to apply her mind on her terms, and no one else's. Alternate Identity: Mara Hallomen Identity: Secret Birthplace: France (Dual-Citizenship, French/American) Occupation: Full-Time Inventor/Superhero Affiliations: Ironclad, Jill O'Cure, The Lab Family: Alexander "Hollow Man" Hallomen (Father) Age: 22 (DoB: December 1991) Gender: Female Ethnicity: Caucasian Height: 5'5" Weight: ~110lbs, ~160lbs in armor Eyes: Dark Blue Hair: Dirty-Blonde Description: On the short side, slim and modestly proportioned but not exactly muscular, Mara tends to take just enough care of herself to maintain her shape and stay alive, but not much else. She nearly always looks a little strung-out, hair disheveled and eyes tired, like she doesn't sleep well (which she doesn't) or spends long stretches distracted by some project or idea to the neglect of all else (which she does). Her clothing is simple, practical, and subdued in color (shades of gray and black being popular, quiet blues and dark purples being runners-up). Make-up is practically a foreign concept and generally not worth her time. Her powersuit is built to be sleek and afford her full range of motion, colored in greys and gunmetal blacks with neon blue highlights. The gauntlets are bulkier, relative to the rest of the suit, and have plating that can shift and rearrange for the task at hand - including deploying a number of small tools. The back of the suit carries a smooth backpack-like piece that extends four short articulated nodes to generate and control her wings in flight. Various parts of the suit, most notably the helmet, can be commanded to pull back or fold away for convenience. When not in use the suit is exchanged with a heavy, flexible metal choker that rests at the base of the user's neck; it has no visible clasp and, while clearly well-made and tasteful, does not appear to be especially valuable. Power Descriptions: When Dragonfly's Datalink is active small lights 'dance' behind her eyes; this effect is not very bright, but is highly piercing (being subtly noticeable even through her helmet's lenses, which are otherwise not outwardly transparent). Failed attempts to penetrate her Mental Immunity are met with psychic "static," resistance, and unintelligible echoes of her multiple running thoughts. Her technology-based spatial effects typically manifest as shifting, churning distortions or fragmented space. Some effects are tinted the same distinct neon blue her suit emits at the seams and glasswork when charged. In flight the suit creates four thin wings of that same neon blue-tinted energy which leave a soft trail behind her: they are insubstantial to the touch, if tingly, and designed to look like stylized and blade-like dragonfly wings (though they do not flap, but can and do adjust position for in-flight control). She can call up a number of small drones for a variety of purposes; each is a bit smaller than a football, with one end flattened into a 'face' dominated entirely by a single large eye capable of projecting images and high-energy lasers. Though they lack grasping limbs, they can carry light loads by way of the same gravity manipulators that let them fly. History: In certain parts of the underworld you don't buy or sell weapons without knowing the name Hallomen. Word is that for the right price he can get you anything: designer drugs like Max or Zoom, the very latest in illegal technology, and even, once in a rare while – if you can afford it – gadgets from caught supervillains that got 'lost' on their way to disposal or science labs. From the back alleys to high-class black market auctions, he supplies whole armies if the price is right and by luck, bribes, and exceptional planning he never seems to get caught; those who've dealt with him jokingly call him the “Hollow Man†(through rarely to his face) in honor of how the police raid into his storehouses and labs to find empty rooms. What customers only very rarely know is where most of the new and custom items came from. Hallomen is a cold and ruthless man but a man none the less, and around the turn of the 20th century had a short tryst with a villainess and frequent buyer. He was completely uninterested in the child she bore (what use did he have for a wailing, disgusting baby?) until several years later, when he got word that the child was beginning to show superhuman traits – signs of high intelligence and her mother's ability to communicate with electronics. Now and only now was the girl useful to him and when the mother was killed (something he calmly claims he had nothing to do with, of course) the daughter fell into his care. Little Mara Hallomen was indeed predicted to be brilliant when she grew older but that simply wouldn't be enough for the Hollow Man – no, anything good can be made better, results could be obtained faster. He invested considerable resources into her 'education', and so it was that young Mara grew up all but alone in a barely-staffed lab, under a constant regimen of 'vitamins' and 'medicine', supplied with a never-ending stream of knowledge and information; her only human contact was a rare visit from her father, a scant few researchers or guards, and the occasional empath or psychic paid to enhance her mind in ways conventional science could not. Even this was cold comfort, however, as anyone who set foot in the building was under strict orders not to talk to Mara unless absolutely necessary so she could concentrate on her real purpose: designing new and improved tools of crime. From death rays to personal teleporters to battlesuits, she made them all. Old-school and cutting-edge, energy to gravity to good old bullets, she designed a veritable panoply and Hallomen made money hand over fist. Kept docile, driven, and borderline insane as an intended side-effect of her constant "health treatments," the only thing her father could never have predicted was the net effect it was taking on her mind: redundant and parallel in some places, warped and enhanced in others, bit by bit her brain was growing resistant to outside influence. The older she got the more treatment she underwent and the more treatment she underwent the more resistant she became; the more resistant she became the more disquieting her life seemed. Finally, near her 18th birthday, she was resting in what passed for her private room when a lone dragonfly wandered its way through the barred window and caught her eye. To anyone else it wouldn't even have been a remarkable specimen of an insect, but to her the darting little bug was the most beautiful thing in the world: free. Then and there she made up her mind to be as free as the dragonfly was - to escape and feel the wind under her metaphorical wings. Less than a month later, the guards came to wake her and found the room empty, the majority of her research and designs completely destroyed, and a very large sum vanished from her father's own personal bank account. She's managed to stay a step ahead of her father and his goons ever since, figuring Freedom City and its relatively high hero count to be the perfect place to hide out…and test some new designs on her own terms. Personality & Motivation: Mara's more than a little bitter about not having had much of a childhood, and not amazingly socially skilled (which she typically deals with using snark and distrust). When presented with a puzzle or new idea to build she's energized and almost manic as her brain kicks into gear to solve the task at hand. She's very intelligent and highly rational, but a combination of chronic bad sleep and frequent headaches (both side-effects of her altered brain and assorted substances that are even now still washing out of her system) can make her snide and irate...though continuing social exposure and her ongoing relationship are alleviating many of these problems. Given her life so far, she has a fairly intense dislike of criminals. She's softer at heart than she'd ever admit, having an especially strong drive to aid children, but by and large she's more driven by the victimizers than their victims. Powers & Tactics: Mara dabbles in many areas of technology but most of her combat tech is based on spatial distortions, something she developed under her father's thumb but didn't work the kinks out of until she'd escaped. Her devices, her gauntlets especially, are built to warp and fold space to provide any number of effects. Her Datalink power she finds useful, but more for utility than combat; her mind's resistance to outside influence is something she tries to keep well-hidden as her ace in the hole against manipulation. When given half a chance she plans her battles quickly and efficiently, well aware that she relies on her devices and that those devices have limits. Against an obviously inferior foe she might be careless, but against anything or anyone challenging she is methodical and deliberate, striking when she'll have the upper hand and analyzing the situation for any advantage. Complications: Drones: Powers with the 'drone' descriptor only function when Dragonfly can deploy and command her drones. She has a decent but not inexhaustible stock to call up, and if her radio communication to them is cut off they are left with only their most recent instructions and a dog-like AI - which only tells them to finish their current task (to the best of their now-reduced ability) and then return to safety. Enemy: The Hollow Man. When she left she dealt a huge (if sadly not crippling) blow to her father's business, not to mention the very large sum of money she took with her. He wants her back, preferably in good condition, though the longer he has to pretend that the key to his most popular items hasn't vanished the more and more flexible he gets as long as she's alive and her head's in one piece. Hatred: People taking advantage of or endangering children, anyone using the creations she thought up, and to a lesser extent organized crime or high-end weapons dealers. HUD: The power suit device communicates most of its Super-Sense powers through Dragonfly's normal senses, and thus may be lost to the appropriate dazzle or similar sense-impairing attack (eg, all visual senses and Uncanny Dodge are lost when visually dazzled; radio signals cannot be 'heard' if deaf; etc). Legacy: Against her best efforts, some of her creations are still being made here and there, and there are still quite a number of older designs floating around through the underworld. Anyone savvy enough, or connected enough, can link this (often quite lethal or empowering) technology to her. Relationship: With >Jill O'Cure. Responsibility: Mara now owns and runs Hallomen Advanced Experts (HAX), and is responsible for being the boss and keeping the place going and its people employed, not to mention protecting the rather valuable projects and secrets therein. Secret: Identity. Side-Effects: Powerful depressants and some other compounds (like Zombie Powder) react badly with chemicals and conditioning still in Dragonfly's system; depending on the dosage used she'll range from being slightly neurotic (as her sense of identity fights the old conditioning) up to complete if temporary regression to a happy and disturbing little worker bee that almost mindlessly devours any technical projects put in front of her. Suit Lite: Dragonfly's suit, while in choker form, is severely limited in what it can do - generally speaking, it's capable only of the Dimensional Pocket, Force Field, Shield, and Teleport powers. The device is, of course, only Subtle when in choker form and not actively being used. Abilities: 2 + 4 + 2 + 18 + 2 + 4 = 32PP Strength: 12 (+1) Dexterity: 14 (+2) Constitution: 12 (+1) Intelligence: 28 (+9) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 14 (+2) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP Initiative: +10 Attack: +6, +12 Suit Offense Grapple: +7 / +11 Super-Strength Defense: +14/+6 (+6 Base, +8 Shield), +3 Flat-Footed Knockback: -7/-2/-0 (full defense / force field only / base) Saving Throws: 8 + 7 + 11 = 26PP Toughness: +10/+1 (+1 Con, +5 Protection [impervious 5], +4 Force Field) Fortitude: +9 (+1 Con, +8) Reflex: +9 (+2 Dex, +7) Will: +12 (+1 Wis, +11) Skills: 100R = 25PP Computers 11 (+20)SM Concentration 4 (+5) Craft (Electronic) 15 (+24)SM Craft (Mechanical) 15 (+24)SM Disable Device 8 (+17) Knowledge (Business) 1 (+10) Knowledge (Physical Sciences) 11 (+20) Knowledge (Technology) 8 (+17) Languages 4 (English [Native], French, Japanese, Russian, Spanish) Notice 4 (+5)SM Perform (Stringed Instruments) 10 (+11, +13 Masterwork Instruments) Sense Motive 9 (+10) Feats: 15PP Ambidexterity Benefit (Wealth) 1 Eidetic Memory Equipment 4 (20EP) Fearless Inventor Luck 2 Master Plan Online Research Skill Mastery (Computers, Craft [Electronic], Craft [Mechanical], Notice) Speed of Thought Equipment: 5PP = 25EP 1 + 1 + 1 + 16 + 1 = 20EP Masterwork Double Bass [1EP] Masterwork Violin [1EP] Multitool [1EP] The Warehouse (PL10 HQ) [1 + 1 + 14 = 16EP] An outwardly-unremarkable warehouse tucked away in Greenbank, no local gangs or criminals seem to want to talk about it. Funny, that.... Size: Medium [1EP] Toughness: +10 [1EP] Features: [14EP] Concealed (+10 DC) Computer Defense System (Blast 12) Fire Prevention System Garage Laboratory Library Living Space Power (Communication Link [Dragonfly's suit]) Power System Security System 3 (DC30) Workshop Alternate HQ [1EP] Hallomen Advanced Experts [2 + 1 + 13 = 16EP] A solid, simple lab building in the North End that houses one of Freedom City's newest up-and-coming technology consultant groups, with a little something extra hidden in a sub-basement that's not on the building plans.... Size: Huge [2EP] Toughness: +10 [1EP] Features: [13EP] Concealed (+10 DC) Computer Cover Facility Defense System (Blast 12) Fire Prevention System Laboratory Library Personnel Power System Security System 3 (DC30) Workshop Powers: 9 + 2 + 2 + 98 = 111PP Altered Brain 1.6 (8PP Container [Passive, Permanent], Feats: Innate) [9PP] Immunity 10 (Psionic Effects; Flaws: Limited [1/2 Effect]) [5PP] Quickness 6 (x100, Flaws: Limited [Mental Tasks]) [3PP] Comprehend 1 (Electronics) [2PP] (mutation) Datalink 2 (Mental, 100ft) [2PP] (mutation) Device 24 (120PP Container, Flaws: Hard-To-Lose, Feats: Restricted [Datalink], Subtle) [98PP] (powersuit) A high-tech armored suit capable of warping space to various effects. It requires Datalink to be properly piloted. When not in use it exchanges (via spatial technology and Quick Change) with a solid-looking metal choker that rests at the base of the wearer's neck. Auxiliary Power Array 5 (10PP Array; Feats: Dynamic Base Power, Dynamic Alternate Power) [13PP] BP (Dynamic): Flight 5 (250mph / 1,000ft per Move Action) [8PP] AP (Dynamic): Super-Strength 5 (STR 35 [Heavy Load: 1.5 tons]) [8PP] Communication 5 (radio, 5 mile range; Extras: Area; Flaws: One-Way; Feats: Selective, Subtle) [7PP] Features 1 (Improvised Tools) [1PP] Force Field 4 (Feats: Selective) [5PP] (spatial control) Illusion 1 (Auditory, Visual, 5' radius; Extras: Duration [sustained, free action to maintain]) [4PP] (drone projection) Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9PP] Primary Array 20 (40pp array; Feats: Accurate 3, Alternate Power 6, Precise) [50PP] BP: Blast 12 (Extras: Secondary Effect) [36/40PP] (spatial blast) AP: Blast 12 (Extras: Autofire 1; Feats: Homing, Indirect 2, Split Attack) [40/40PP] (drone beamspam) AP: Dazzle 12 (Visual; Extras: Linked [Nauseate]) + Nauseate 12 (Extras: Linked [Dazzle], Range [Ranged]; Flaws: Sense-Dependent [Visual], Limited [sicken]) [24+12= 36/40PP] (drone strobe) AP: Dimensional Pocket 12 (1250 tons; Feats: Progression [Cargo] 2, Quick Change) [27/40PP] AP: Drain Toughness 12 (Extras: Linked ) + Strike 12 (Extras: Linked [Drain], Penetrating 12 [DMG 24]) [12+24= 36/40PP] (spatial blade) AP: ESP 6 (Auditory, Visual, 20 mile range; Extras: Simultaneous, Action [Free]; Flaws: Limited [reachable by air drone]; Feats: Rapid 1 [10x search speed], Subtle [cloaking; DC26]) Communication 6 (Auditory, 20 mile range; Extras: Area; Flaws: Limited [reachable by air drone], One-Way; Feats: Selective, Subtle) Move Object 2 (STR 10; Extras: Action [Move], Range [Perception]) [26+5+8= 39/40PP] (drone search & rescue) AP: Stun 12 [24/40PP] (taser hand) Protection 5 (Extras: Impervious) [10PP] (armor plating) Shield 8 (Feats: Evasion 2) [10PP] (spatial control) Super-Senses 8 (Analytical Visual Senses, Communication Link [warehouse HQ], Direction Sense, Infravision, Radio Sense, Spatial Awareness [visual], Uncanny Dodge [radio]) [8PP] Teleport 1 (100ft per Move Action, Feats: Turnabout) [3PP] (spatial control) DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC16 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Dimensional Pocket Touch DC22 Reflex Trapped DC20 Will (+1 per round) (escape) Drone Blast Ranged DC27+autofire Toughness (Staged) Damaged (Energy) Drone Strobe Ranged DC22 Reflex Blind +DC22 Fortitude Sickened DC22 Fortitude (recover) Spatial Blade Touch DC22 Fortitude (Staged) Drain Toughness (22 - roll pp) DC27 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Energy) Spatial Blast Ranged DC27 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Energy) Taser Hand Touch DC22 Fortitude (Staged) Dazed/Stunned/Unconscious Abilities (32) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (26) + Skills (25) + Feats (15) + Powers (111) - Drawbacks (0) = 233/250 Power Points

Below is a formatted, easier-to-review version of the edits I'm putting in. For ease of reference! Player Name: Fox Character Name: Dragonfly Power Level: 14 (12) (233/233pp) Trade-Offs: +2 Defense / -2 Toughness Unspent PP: 0 Progress to Impervium Status: 123/150 In Brief: Bitter young genius out to apply her mind on her terms, and no one else's. Alternate Identity: Mara Hallomen Identity: Secret Birthplace: France (Dual-Citizenship, French/American) Occupation: Full-Time Inventor/Superhero Affiliations: Ironclad, Jill O'Cure, The Lab Family: Alexander "Hollow Man" Hallomen (Father) Age: 22 (DoB: December 1991) Gender: Female Ethnicity: Caucasian Height: 5'5" Weight: ~110lbs, ~160lbs in armor Eyes: Dark Blue Hair: Dirty-Blonde Description: On the short side, slim and modestly proportioned but not exactly muscular, Mara tends to take just enough care of herself to maintain her shape and stay alive, but not much else. She nearly always looks a little strung-out, hair disheveled and eyes tired, like she doesn't sleep well (which she doesn't) or spends long stretches distracted by some project or idea to the neglect of all else (which she does). Her clothing is simple, practical, and subdued in color (shades of gray and black being popular, dark reds, blues, and purples being runners-up). Make-up is practically a foreign concept. Her power suit is built to be sleek and afford her full range of motion, colored in greys and gunmetal blacks with neon blue highlights. The gauntlets are, relative to the rest of the outfit, bulkier and have plating that can shift and rearrange for the task at hand, including deploying a number of small tools; the back of the suit carries a smooth backpack-like piece that extends four short articulated nodes to generate and control her wings in flight. Various parts of the suit, most notably the helmet, can be commanded to pull back or fold away for convenience. When not in use the suit is exchanged with a heavy, flexible metal choker that rests at the base of the user's neck; it has no visible clasp and does not look terribly valuable, being made of non-precious metal and what little detail there is being quite obviously glass. Power Descriptions: When Dragonfly's Datalink is active small lights 'dance' behind her eyes; this effect is not very bright, but is highly piercing (being subtly noticeable even through her helmet's lenses, which are otherwise not outwardly transparent). Failed attempts to penetrate her Mental Immunity are met with psychic "static," resistance, and unintelligible echoes of her multiple running thoughts. Her technology-based spatial effects typically manifest as shifting, churning distortions or fragmented space. Some effects are tinted the same distinct neon blue her suit (especially at the gauntlets) emits at the seams and glasswork when charged. In flight the suit creates four thin wings of that same neon blue-tinted energy which leave a soft trail behind her: they are insubstantial to the touch, if tingly, and designed to look like stylized and blade-like dragonfly wings (though they do not flap, but can and do adjust position for in-flight control). She can call up a number of small drones for a variety of purposes; each is a bit smaller than a football, with one end flattened into a 'face' dominated entirely by a single large eye capable of projecting images and high-energy lasers. Though they lack grasping limbs, they can carry light loads by way of the same gravity manipulators that let them fly. History: In certain parts of the underworld you don't buy or sell weapons without knowing the name Hallomen. Word is that for the right price he can get you anything: designer drugs like Max or Zoom, the very latest in illegal technology, and even, once in a rare while – if you can afford it – gadgets from caught supervillains that got 'lost' on their way to the incinerators or science labs. From the back alleys to high-class black market auctions, he supplies whole armies if the price is right and by luck, bribes, and exceptional planning he never seems to get caught; those who've dealt with him jokingly call him the “Hollow Man†(through rarely to his face) in honor of how the police raid into his storehouses and labs to find empty – 'hollow' – rooms. What customers only very rarely know is where most of the new and custom items came from. Hallomen is a cold and ruthless man but a man none the less, and around the turn of the 20th century had a short tryst with a villainess and frequent buyer. He was completely uninterested in the child she bore (what use did he have for a wailing, disgusting baby?) until several years later, when he got word that the child was displaying superhuman traits – signs of high intelligence (for a child of that age) and her mother's ability to control computers by thought alone. Now and only now was the girl useful to him and when the mother was killed (something he calmly claims he had nothing to do with, of course) the daughter fell into his care. Little Mara Hallomen was indeed predicted to be brilliant when she grew older but that simply wouldn't be enough (or soon enough) for the Hollow Man – no, anything good can be made better. He invested considerable resources into her 'education', and so it was that young Mara grew up all but alone in a barely-staffed lab, under a constant regimen of 'vitamins' and 'medicine', supplied with a never-ending stream of knowledge and information; her only human contact was a rare visit from her father, a scant few researchers or guards, and the occasional empath or psychic paid to enhance her mind in ways conventional science could not. Even this was cold comfort, however, as anyone who set foot in the building was under strict orders not to talk to Mara unless absolutely necessary so she could concentrate on her real purpose: designing new and improved tools of crime. From death rays to personal teleporters to battlesuits, she made them all. Old-school and cutting-edge, energy to gravity to good old bullets, she designed a veritable panoply and Hallomen made money hand over fist. Kept docile, driven, and borderline insane as an intended side-effect of her constant "health treatments," the only thing her father could never have predicted was the net effect it was taking on her mind: redundant and parallel in some places, warped and enhanced in others, bit by bit her brain was growing resistant to outside influence. The older she got the more treatment she underwent and the more treatment she underwent the more resistant she became; the more resistant she became the more disquieting her life seemed. Finally, near her 18th birthday, she was resting in what passed for her private room when a lone dragonfly wandered its way through the barred window and caught her eye. To anyone else it wouldn't even have been a remarkable specimen of a dragonfly, but to her the darting little bug was the most beautiful thing in the world: free. Then and there she made up her mind to be as free as the dragonfly was: to escape and feel the wind under her metaphorical wings. Less than a month later, the guards came to wake her and found the room empty, the majority of her research and designs completely destroyed, and a very large sum vanished from her father's own personal bank account. She's managed to stay a step ahead of her father and his goons ever since, figuring Freedom City and its relatively high hero count to be the perfect place to hide out…and test some new designs on her own terms. Personality & Motivation: Mara's more than a little bitter about not having had much of a childhood, and not amazingly socially skilled (which she typically deals with using snark and mistrust). When presented with a puzzle or new idea to build she's energized and almost manic as her brain kicks into gear to solve the task at hand. She's very intelligent and highly rational, but a combination of chronic bad sleep and frequent headaches (both side-effects of her altered brain and assorted substances that are even now still washing out of her system) can make her snide and irate (though continuing social exposure and her ongoing relationship are alleviating many of these problems). Given her life so far, she has a fairly intense dislike of criminals. She's softer at heart than she'd ever admit, having an especially strong drive to aid children, but by and large she's more driven by the victimizers than their victims. It's occurred to her that she could accomplish many of her goals by villainy (at the very least as the sort of villain who hunts other villains as often as they break the law), but believes heroism's just more rational – being strictly on the hero side of things provides more advantages than disadvantages...not to mention helps her sleep a little easier, particularly if she gets her own creations off the streets. Powers & Tactics: Mara dabbles in many areas of technology but most of her combat tech is based on spatial distortions, something she developed under her father's thumb but didn't work the kinks out of until she'd escaped. Her devices, her gauntlets especially, are built to warp and fold space to provide any number of effects. Her Datalink power she finds useful, but more for utility than combat; her mind's resistance to outside influence is something she tries to keep well-hidden as her ace in the hole against manipulation. When given half a chance she plans her battles quickly and efficiently, well aware that she relies on her devices and that those devices have limits. Against an obviously inferior foe she might be careless, but against anything or anyone challenging she is methodical and deliberate, striking when she'll have the upper hand and analyzing the situation for any advantage. Complications: Drones: Powers with the 'drone' descriptor only function when Dragonfly can deploy and command her drones. She has a decent but not inexhaustible stock to call up, and if her radio communication to them is cut off they are left with only their most recent instructions and a dog-like AI - which only tells them to finish their current task (to the best of their now-reduced ability) and then return to safety. Enemy: The Hollow Man. When she left she dealt a huge (if sadly not crippling) blow to her father's business, not to mention the very large sum of money she took with her. He wants her back, preferably in good condition, though the longer he has to pretend that the key to his most popular items hasn't vanished the more and more flexible he gets as long as she's alive and her head's in one piece. Hatred: People taking advantage of or endangering children, anyone using the creations she thought up, and to a lesser extent organized crime or high-end weapons dealers. HUD: The power suit device communicates most of its Super-Sense powers through Dragonfly's normal senses, and thus may be lost to the appropriate dazzle or similar sense-impairing attack (eg, all visual senses and Uncanny Dodge are lost when visually dazzled; radio signals cannot be 'heard' if deaf; etc). Legacy: Against her best efforts, some of her creations are still being made here and there, and there are still quite a number of older designs floating around through the underworld. Anyone savvy enough, or connected enough, can link this (often quite lethal or empowering) technology to her. Relationship: With >Jill O'Cure. Responsibility: Mara now owns and runs Hallomen Advanced Experts (HAX), and is responsible for being the boss and keeping the place going and its people employed, not to mention protecting the rather valuable projects and secrets therein. Secret: Identity. Side-Effects: Powerful depressants and some other compounds (like Zombie Powder) react badly with chemicals and conditioning still in Dragonfly's system; depending on the dosage used she'll range from being slightly neurotic (as her sense of identity fights the old conditioning) up to complete if temporary regression to a happy and disturbing little worker bee that almost mindlessly devours any technical projects put in front of her. Suit Lite: Dragonfly's suit, while in choker form, is severely limited in what it can do - generally speaking, it's capable only of the Dimensional Pocket, Force Field, Shield, and Teleport powers. The device is, of course, only Subtle when in choker form and not actively being used. Abilities: 2 + 4 + 2 + 18 + 2 + 4 = 32PP Strength: 12 (+1) Dexterity: 14 (+2) Constitution: 12 (+1) Intelligence: 28 (+9) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 14 (+2) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP Initiative: +10 Attack: +6, +12 Suit Offense Grapple: +7 / +11 Super-Strength Defense: +14/+6 (+6 Base, +8 Shield), +3 Flat-Footed Knockback: -7/-2/-0 (full defense / force field only / base) Saving Throws: 8 + 7 + 11 = 26PP Toughness: +10/+1 (+1 Con, +5 Protection [impervious 5], +4 Force Field) Fortitude: +9 (+1 Con, +8) Reflex: +9 (+2 Dex, +7) Will: +12 (+1 Wis, +11) Skills: 100R = 25PP Computers 11 (+20)SM Concentration 4 (+5) Craft (Electronic) 15 (+24)SM Craft (Mechanical) 15 (+24)SM Disable Device 8 (+17) Knowledge (Business) 1 (+10) Knowledge (Physical Sciences) 11 (+20) Knowledge (Technology) 8 (+17) Languages 4 (English [Native], French, Japanese, Russian, Spanish) Notice 4 (+5)SM Perform (Stringed Instruments) 10 (+11, +13 Masterwork Instruments) Sense Motive 9 (+10) Feats: 15PP Ambidexterity Benefit (Wealth) 1 Eidetic Memory Equipment 4 (20EP) Fearless Inventor Luck 2 Master Plan Online Research Skill Mastery (Computers, Craft [Electronic], Craft [Mechanical], Notice) Speed of Thought Equipment: 5PP = 25EP 1 + 1 + 1 + 16 + 1 = 20EP Masterwork Double Bass [1EP] Masterwork Violin [1EP] Multitool [1EP] The Warehouse (PL10 HQ) [1 + 1 + 14 = 16EP] An outwardly-unremarkable warehouse tucked away in Greenbank, no local gangs or criminals seem to want to talk about it. Funny, that.... Size: Medium [1EP] Toughness: +10 [1EP] Features: [14EP] Concealed (+10 DC) Computer Defense System (Blast 12) Fire Prevention System Garage Laboratory Library Living Space Power (Communication Link [Dragonfly's suit]) Power System Security System 3 (DC30) Workshop Alternate HQ [1EP] Hallomen Advanced Experts [2 + 1 + 13 = 16EP] A solid, simple lab building in the North End that houses one of Freedom City's newest up-and-coming technology consultant groups, with a little something extra hidden in a sub-basement that's not on the building plans.... Size: Huge [2EP] Toughness: +10 [1EP] Features: [13EP] Concealed (+10 DC) Computer Cover Facility Defense System (Blast 12) Fire Prevention System Laboratory Library Personnel Power System Security System 3 (DC30) Workshop Powers: 9 + 2 + 2 + 98 = 111PP Altered Brain 1.6 (8PP Container [Passive, Permanent], Feats: Innate) [9PP] Immunity 10 (Mental Effects, Flaws: Limited [1/2 Effect]) [5PP] Quickness 6 (x100, Flaws: Limited [Mental Tasks]) [3PP] Comprehend 1 (Electronics) [2PP] (mutation) Datalink 2 (Mental, 100ft) [2PP] (mutation) Device 24 (120PP Container, Flaws: Hard-To-Lose, Feats: Restricted [Datalink], Subtle) [98PP] (powersuit) A high-tech armored suit capable of warping space to various effects. It requires Datalink to be properly piloted. When not in use it exchanges (via spatial technology and Quick Change) with a solid-looking metal choker that rests at the base of the wearer's neck. Auxiliary Power Array 5 (10PP Array; Feats: Dynamic Base Power, Dynamic Alternate Power) [13PP] BP (Dynamic): Flight 5 (250mph / 1,000ft per Move Action) [8PP] AP (Dynamic): Super-Strength 5 (STR 35 [Heavy Load: 1.5 tons]) [8PP] Communication 5 (radio, 5 mile range; Feats: Subtle) [6PP] Features 1 (Improvised Tools) [1PP] Force Field 4 (Feats: Selective) [5PP] (spatial control) Illusion 1 (Auditory, Visual, 5' radius; Extras: Duration [sustained, free action to maintain]) [4PP] (drone projection) Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9PP] Primary Array 20 (40pp array; Feats: Accurate 3, Alternate Power 6, Precise) [50PP] BP: Blast 12 (Extras: Secondary Effect) [36/40PP] (spatial blast) AP: Blast 12 (Extras: Autofire 1; Feats: Homing, Indirect 2, Split Attack) [40/40PP] (drone beamspam) AP: Dazzle 12 (Visual; Extras: Linked [Nauseate]) + Nauseate 12 (Extras: Linked [Dazzle], Range [Ranged]; Flaws: Sense-Dependent [Visual], Limited [sicken]) [24+12= 36/40PP] (drone strobe) AP: Dimensional Pocket 12 (1250 tons; Feats: Progression [Cargo] 2, Quick Change) [27/40PP] AP: Drain Toughness 12 (Extras: Linked ) + Strike 12 (Extras: Penetrating 12 [DMG 24]) [12+24= 36/40PP] (spatial blade) AP: ESP 6 (Auditory, Visual, 20 mile range; Extras: Simultaneous, Action [Free]; Flaws: Limited [reachable by air drone]; Feats: Rapid 1 [10x search speed])Communication 6 (Auditory, 20 mile range; Flaws: limited [reachable by air drone]) Move Object 2 (STR 10; Extras: Action [Move], Range [Perception]) [25+3+8= 36/40PP] (drone search & rescue) AP: Stun 12 [24/40PP] (taser hand) Protection 5 (Extras: Impervious) [10PP] (armor plating) Shield 8 (Feats: Evasion 2) [10PP] (spatial control) Super-Senses 6 (Analytical Visual Senses, Communication Link [warehouse HQ], Direction Sense, Infravision, Spatial Awareness [visual], Uncanny Dodge [Radio]) [7PP] Super-Senses 2 (Radius [All Visual]) [2PP] (drone feed) Teleport 1 (100ft per Move Action, Feats: Turnabout) [3PP] (spatial control) DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC16 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Dimensional Pocket Touch DC22 Reflex Trapped DC20 Will (+1 per round) (escape) Drone Blast Ranged DC27+autofire Toughness (Staged) Damaged (Energy) Drone Strobe Ranged DC22 Reflex Blind +DC22 Fortitude Sickened DC22 Fortitude (recover) Spatial Blade Touch DC22 Fortitude (Staged) Drain Toughness (22 - roll pp) DC27 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Energy) Spatial Blast Ranged DC27 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Energy) Taser Hand Touch DC22 Fortitude (Staged) Dazed/Stunned/UnconsciousAbilities (32) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (26) + Skills (25) + Feats (15) + Powers (111) - Drawbacks (0) = 233/233 Power Points

Electra and I had a short discussion here - as most of the founders (and other involved players) have retired the relevant characters, this HQ is retired. It remains an active part of the setting, with Dragonfly and Miss Americana still involved in running it, but provides no HQ functions outside of whatever a GM may or may not choose to provide (as per any other setting or plot piece).

Wraith's surface rippled in discomfort, hands and feet (though there was precious little difference between them at the moment) converting from claws to soft pads so as not to damage the pipes and their...contents. "I do not like this place," she quietly hummed, clinging to the side of one of the pipes and eyeing a fluid that she was trying very hard to not associate with liquifed...well, her. "This place is gross. The...design of it was perhaps bad enough, but I did not think it would have a pulse. I wonder if it can be killed."

"Wh-" Whatever response Mara was trying to form died with the confused, strangled noise of someone whose brain was shifting gears without a clutch, leaving dark blue eyes blinking in confusion at the interruption until Ellie had nearly made it out of the locker room. "R-right," she agreed, catching up and still blushing, "no jewelry. Hopefully won't need it; even jerks have standards. Hopefully." Still, 'no jewelry' didn't mean she had to be completely ignore possible danger. Something inside the choker at the base of her neck glimmered, and in another dimension entirely a suit of high-tech armor lit and started warming up.

So! That build's...a bit more combat-worthy. And by 'a bit' I mean 'possibly overkill'. Not invincible, though; she has the same problems anybody who defense-shifts has, and she has no way to exploit will saves (and, in general, leans pretty heavily on fort and toughness to take enemies out in any lasting way; Dragonfly's worst enemy is a paragon or brick). A couple things here haven't been accounted for: - There are only two of us trying to keep The Lab afloat these days. If we want to keep doing so, Dragonfly'll have to sink a fair number of points into it. It's a 25ep structure and Miss A's kicking in 5ep, meaning Mara would have to kick in another 20 to keep it as a proper headquarters (barring further contributions from Miss A, who does have a few pp to spare). Alternatively, we could let it fade into the background...or sink her contribution in as an AP off her headquarter 'array'. These would be doable, but I'd have to either steal points from elsewhere or eat a vet award; need to talk to Electra. - I really wanted to give Mara some more skills, and - maybe - a little more Charisma. The latter's less important, as this build already gave her a boost, but the skills are things I really want. If I hold off on edits until July's counts are done, though, I should have 2-3pp to work with there...might actually drop int down to 28, rather than the full 30, too; she can wait for that last +1. Could put those pp into skills or charisma.

Alright, so, broader Dragonfly edits. Rough sheet follows; haven't double-checked all the math, but it should be mostly correct. Player Name: Fox Character Name: Dragonfly Power Level: 14 (12) (233/233pp) Trade-Offs: +2 Defense / -2 Toughness Unspent PP: 0 Progress to Impervium Status: 123/150 In Brief: Bitter young genius out to apply her mind on her terms, and no one else's. Alternate Identity: Mara Hallomen Identity: Secret Birthplace: France (Dual-Citizenship, French/American) Occupation: Full-Time Inventor/Superhero Affiliations: Ironclad, Jill O'Cure, The Lab Family: Alexander "Hollow Man" Hallomen (Father) Age: 22 (DoB: December 1991) Gender: Female Ethnicity: Caucasian Height: 5'5" Weight: ~110lbs, ~160lbs in armor Eyes: Dark Blue Hair: Dirty-Blonde Description: On the short side, slim and modestly proportioned but not exactly muscular, Mara tends to take just enough care of herself to maintain her shape and stay alive, but not much else. She nearly always looks a little strung-out, hair disheveled and eyes tired, like she doesn't sleep well (which she doesn't) or spends long stretches distracted by some project or idea to the neglect of all else (which she does). Her clothing is simple, practical, and subdued in color (shades of gray and black being popular, dark reds, blues, and purples being runners-up). Makeup is practically a foreign concept. Her power suit is built to be sleek and afford her full range of motion, colored in greys and gunmetal blacks with neon blue highlights. The gauntlets are, relative to the rest of the outfit, bulkier and have plating that can shift and rearrange for the task at hand, including deploying a number of small tools; the back of the suit carries a smooth backpack-like piece that extends four short articulated nodes to generate and control her wings in flight. Various parts of the suit, most notably the helmet, can be commanded to pull back or fold away for convenience. When not in use the suit is exchanged with a heavy, flexible metal choker that rests at the base of the user's neck; it has no visible clasp and does not look terribly valuable, being made of non-precious metal and what little detail there is being quite obviously glass. Power Descriptions: When Dragonfly's Datalink is active small lights 'dance' behind her eyes; this effect is not very bright, but is highly piercing (being subtly noticeable even through her helmet's lenses, which are otherwise not outwardly transparent). Failed attempts to penetrate her Mental Immunity are met with psychic "static," resistance, and unintelligible echoes of her multiple running thoughts. Her technology-based spatial effects typically manifest as shifting, churning distortions or fragmented space. Some effects are tinted the same distinct neon blue her suit (especially at the gauntlets) emits at the seams and glasswork when charged. In flight the suit creates four thin wings of that same neon blue-tinted energy which leave a soft trail behind her: they are insubstantial to the touch, if tingly, and designed to look like stylized and blade-like dragonfly wings (though they do not flap, but can and do adjust position for in-flight control). She can call up a number of small drones for a variety of purposes; each is a bit smaller than a football, with one end flattened into a 'face' dominated entirely by a single large eye capable of projecting images and high-energy lasers. Though they lack grasping limbs, they can carry light loads by way of the same gravity manipulators that let them fly. History: In certain parts of the underworld you don't buy or sell weapons without knowing the name Hallomen. Word is that for the right price he can get you anything: designer drugs like Max or Zoom, the very latest in illegal technology, and even, once in a rare while – if you can afford it – gadgets from caught supervillains that got 'lost' on their way to the incinerators or science labs. From the back alleys to high-class black market auctions, he supplies whole armies if the price is right and by luck, bribes, and exceptional planning he never seems to get caught; those who've dealt with him jokingly call him the “Hollow Man†(through rarely to his face) in honor of how the police raid into his storehouses and labs to find empty – 'hollow' – rooms. What customers only very rarely know is where most of the new and custom items came from. Hallomen is a cold and ruthless man but a man none the less, and around the turn of the 20th century had a short tryst with a villainess and frequent buyer. He was completely uninterested in the child she bore (what use did he have for a wailing, disgusting baby?) until several years later, when he got word that the child was displaying superhuman traits – signs of high intelligence (for a child of that age) and her mother's ability to control computers by thought alone. Now and only now was the girl useful to him and when the mother was killed (something he calmly claims he had nothing to do with, of course) the daughter fell into his care. Little Mara Hallomen was indeed predicted to be brilliant when she grew older but that simply wouldn't be enough (or soon enough) for the Hollow Man – no, anything good can be made better. He invested considerable resources into her 'education', and so it was that young Mara grew up all but alone in a barely-staffed lab, under a constant regimen of 'vitamins' and 'medicine', supplied with a never-ending stream of knowledge and information; her only human contact was a rare visit from her father, a scant few researchers or guards, and the occasional empath or psychic paid to enhance her mind in ways conventional science could not. Even this was cold comfort, however, as anyone who set foot in the building was under strict orders not to talk to Mara unless absolutely necessary so she could concentrate on her real purpose: designing new and improved tools of crime. From death rays to personal teleporters to battlesuits, she made them all. Old-school and cutting-edge, energy to gravity to good old bullets, she designed a veritable panoply and Hallomen made money hand over fist. Kept docile, driven, and borderline insane as an intended side-effect of her constant "health treatments," the only thing her father could never have predicted was the net effect it was taking on her mind: redundant and parallel in some places, warped and enhanced in others, bit by bit her brain was growing resistant to outside influence. The older she got the more treatment she underwent and the more treatment she underwent the more resistant she became; the more resistant she became the more disquieting her life seemed. Finally, near her 18th birthday, she was resting in what passed for her private room when a lone dragonfly wandered its way through the barred window and caught her eye. To anyone else it wouldn't even have been a remarkable specimen of a dragonfly, but to her the darting little bug was the most beautiful thing in the world: free. Then and there she made up her mind to be as free as the dragonfly was: to escape and feel the wind under her metaphorical wings. Less than a month later, the guards came to wake her and found the room empty, the majority of her research and designs completely destroyed, and a very large sum vanished from her father's own personal bank account. She's managed to stay a step ahead of her father and his goons ever since, figuring Freedom City and its relatively high hero count to be the perfect place to hide out…and test some new designs on her own terms. Personality & Motivation: Mara's more than a little bitter about not having had much of a childhood, and not amazingly socially skilled (which she typically deals with using snark and mistrust). When presented with a puzzle or new idea to build she's energized and almost manic as her brain kicks into gear to solve the task at hand. She's very intelligent and highly rational, but a combination of chronic bad sleep and frequent headaches (both side-effects of her altered brain and assorted substances that are even now still washing out of her system) can make her snide and irate (though continuing social exposure and her ongoing relationship are alleviating many of these problems). Given her life so far, she has a fairly intense dislike of criminals. She's softer at heart than she'd ever admit, having an especially strong drive to aid children, but by and large she's more driven by the victimizers than their victims. It's occurred to her that she could accomplish many of her goals by villainy (at the very least as the sort of villain who hunts other villains as often as they break the law), but believes heroism's just more rational – being strictly on the hero side of things provides more advantages than disadvantages...not to mention helps her sleep a little easier, particularly if she gets her own creations off the streets. Powers & Tactics: Mara dabbles in many areas of technology but most of her combat tech is based on spatial distortions, something she developed under her father's thumb but didn't work the kinks out of until she'd escaped. Her devices, her gauntlets especially, are built to warp and fold space to provide any number of effects. Her Datalink power she finds useful, but more for utility than combat; her mind's resistance to outside influence is something she tries to keep well-hidden as her ace in the hole against manipulation. When given half a chance she plans her battles quickly and efficiently, well aware that she relies on her devices and that those devices have limits. Against an obviously inferior foe she might be careless, but against anything or anyone challenging she is methodical and deliberate, striking when she'll have the upper hand and analyzing the situation for any advantage. Complications: Drones: Powers with the 'drone' descriptor only function when Dragonfly can deploy and command her drones. She has a decent but not inexhaustible stock to call up, and if her radio communication to them is cut off they are left with only their most recent instructions and a dog-like AI - which only tells them to finish their current task (to the best of their now-reduced ability) and then return to safety. Enemy: The Hollow Man. When she left she dealt a huge (if sadly not crippling) blow to her father's business, not to mention the very large sum of money she took with her. He wants her back, preferably in good condition, though the longer he has to pretend that the key to his most popular items hasn't vanished the more and more flexible he gets as long as she's alive and her head's in one piece. Hatred: People taking advantage of or endangering children, anyone using the creations she thought up, and to a lesser extent organized crime or high-end weapons dealers. HUD: The power suit device communicates most of its Super-Sense powers through Dragonfly's normal senses, and thus may be lost to the appropriate dazzle or similar sense-impairing attack (eg, all visual senses and Uncanny Dodge are lost when visually dazzled; radio signals cannot be 'heard' if deaf; etc). Legacy: Against her best efforts, some of her creations are still being made here and there, and there are still quite a number of older designs floating around through the underworld. Anyone savvy enough, or connected enough, can link this (often quite lethal or empowering) technology to her. Relationship: With >Jill O'Cure. Responsibility: Mara now owns and runs Hallomen Advanced Experts (HAX), and is responsible for being the boss and keeping the place going and its people employed, not to mention protecting the rather valuable projects and secrets therein. Secret: Identity. Side-Effects: Powerful depressants and some other compounds (like Zombie Powder) react badly with chemicals and conditioning still in Dragonfly's system; depending on the dosage used she'll range from being slightly neurotic (as her sense of identity fights the old conditioning) up to complete if temporary regression to a happy and disturbing little worker bee that almost mindlessly devours any technical projects put in front of her. Suit Lite: Dragonfly's suit, while in choker form, is severely limited in what it can do - generally speaking, it's capable only of the Dimensional Pocket, Force Field, Shield, and Teleport powers. The device is, of course, only Subtle when in choker form and not actively being used. Abilities: 2 + 4 + 2 + 20 + 2 + 4 = 34PP Strength: 12 (+1) Dexterity: 14 (+2) Constitution: 12 (+1) Intelligence: 30 (+10) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 14 (+2) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP Initiative: +10 Attack: +6, +12 Suit Offense Grapple: +7 / +11 Super-Strength Defense: +14/+6 (+6 Base, +8 Shield), +3 Flat-Footed Knockback: -7/-2/-0 (full defense / force field only / base) Saving Throws: 9 + 7 + 12 = 28PP Toughness: +10/+1 (+1 Con, +5 Protection [impervious 5], +4 Force Field) Fortitude: +9 (+1 Con, +8) Reflex: +9 (+2 Dex, +7) Will: +13 (+1 Wis, +12) Skills: 92R = 23PP Computers 10 (+20)SM Concentration 4 (+5) Craft (Electronic) 13 (+23)SM Craft (Mechanical) 13 (+23)SM Disable Device 8 (+18) Knowledge (Physical Sciences) 10 (+20) Knowledge (Technology) 8 (+18) Languages 4 (English [Native], French, Japanese, Russian, Spanish) Notice 4 (+5)SM Perform (Stringed Instruments) 9 (+10, +12 Masterwork Instruments) Sense Motive 9 (+10) Feats: 17PP All-Out Attack Ambidexterity Eidetic Memory Equipment 5 (25EP) Fearless Inventor Luck 2 Master Plan Online Research Power Attack Skill Mastery (Computers, Craft [Electronic], Craft [Mechanical], Notice) Speed of Thought Equipment: 5PP = 25EP 1 + 1 + 1 + 5 + 16 + 1 = 25EP Masterwork Double Bass [1EP] Masterwork Violin [1EP] Multitool [1EP] >The Lab (HQ) [5EP] The Warehouse (PL10 HQ) [1 + 1 + 14 = 16EP] An outwardly-unremarkable warehouse tucked away in Greenbank, no local gangs or criminals seem to want to talk about it. Funny, that.... Size: Medium [1EP] Toughness: +10 [1EP] Features: [14EP] Concealed (+10 DC) Computer Defense System (Blast 12) Fire Prevention System Garage Laboratory Library Living Space Power (Communication Link [Dragonfly's suit]) Power System Security System 3 (DC30) Workshop Alternate HQ [1EP] Hallomen Advanced Experts [2 + 1 + 13 = 16EP] A solid, simple lab building in the North End that houses one of Freedom City's newest up-and-coming technology consultant groups, with a little something extra hidden in a sub-basement that's not on the building plans.... Size: Huge [2EP] Toughness: +10 [1EP] Features: [13EP] Concealed (+10 DC) Computer Cover Facility Defense System (Blast 12) Fire Prevention System Laboratory Library Personnel Power System Security System 3 (DC30) Workshop Powers: 9 + 2 + 98 = 107PP Altered Brain 1.6 (8PP Container [Passive, Permanent], Feats: Innate) [9PP] Immunity 10 (Mental Effects, Flaws: Limited [1/2 Effect]) [5PP] Quickness 6 (x100, Flaws: Limited [Mental Tasks]) [3PP] Datalink 2 (Mental, 100ft) [2PP] (Mutation) Device 24 (120PP Container, Flaws: Hard-To-Lose, Feats: Restricted [Datalink], Subtle) [98PP] (Powersuit, Technology) A high-tech armored suit capable of warping space to various effects. It requires Datalink to be properly piloted. When not in use it exchanges (via spatial technology and Quick Change) with a solid-looking metal choker that rests at the base of the wearer's neck. Auxiliary Power Array 5 (10PP Array; Feats: Dynamic Base Power, Dynamic Alternate Power) [13PP] BP (Dynamic): Flight 5 (250mph / 1,000ft per Move Action) [8PP] (Auxiliary Power Allocation: Flight) AP (Dynamic): Super-Strength 5 (STR 35 [Heavy Load: 1.5 tons]) [8PP] (Auxiliary Power Allocation: Strength) Communication 5 (radio, 5 mile range; Feats: Subtle) [6PP] Features 1 (Improvised Tools) [1PP] Force Field 4 (Feats: Selective) [5PP] (spatial control) Illusion 1 (Auditory, Visual, 5' radius; Extras: Duration [sustained, free action to maintain]) [4pp] (drone projection) Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9PP] Primary Array 20 (40pp array; Feats: Accurate 3, Alternate Power 6, Precise) [50pp] BP: Blast 12 (Extras: Secondary Effect) [36/40pp] (spatial blast) AP: Blast 12 (Extras: Autofire 1; Feats: Homing, Indirect 2, Split Attack) [40/40pp] (drone beamspam) AP: Drain Toughness 12 (Extras: Linked ) + Strike 12 (Extras: Penetrating 12 [DMG 24]) [12+24= 36/40pp] (spatial blade) AP: Stun 12 [24/40pp] (taser hand) AP: Dazzle 12 (Visual; Extras: Linked [Nauseate]) + Nauseate 12 (Extras: Linked [Dazzle], Range [Ranged]; Flaws: Sense-Dependent [Visual], Limited [sicken]) [24+12= 36/40pp] (drone strobe) AP: Dimensional Pocket 12 (1250 tons; Feats: Progression [Cargo] 2, Quick Change) [27/40pp] AP: ESP 6 (Auditory, Visual, 20 mile range; Extras: Simultaneous, Action [Free]; Flaws: Limited [reachable by air drone]; Feats: Rapid 1 [10x search speed])Communication 6 (Auditory, 20 mile range; Flaws: limited [reachable by air drone]) Move Object 2 (STR 10; Extras: Action [Move], Range [Perception]) [25+3+8= 36/40pp] (drone search & rescue) Protection 5 (Extras: Impervious) [10PP] (Armor Plating) Shield 8 (Feats: Evasion 2) [10PP] (Spatial Control) Super-Senses 6 (Analytical Visual Senses, Communication Link [warehouse HQ], Direction Sense, Infravision, Spatial Awareness [visual], Uncanny Dodge [Radio]) [7PP] Super-Senses 2 (Radius [All Visual]) [2pp] (drone feed) Teleport 1 (100ft per Move Action, Feats: Turnabout) [3PP] (Spatial Control) DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC16 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Dimensional Pocket Touch DC22 Reflex Trapped DC20 Will (+1 per round) (escape) Drone Blast Ranged DC27+autofire Toughness (Staged) Damaged (Energy) Drone Strobe Ranged DC22 Reflex Blind +DC22 Fortitude Sickened DC22 Fortitude (recover) Spatial Blade Touch DC22 Fortitude (Staged) Drain Toughness (22 - roll pp) DC27 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Energy) Spatial Blast Ranged DC27 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Energy) Taser Hand Touch DC22 Fortitude (Staged) Dazed/Stunned/UnconsciousAbilities (34) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (28) + Skills (23) + Feats (17) + Powers (107) - Drawbacks (0) = 233/233 Power Points

Mara made a disappointed noise at the reveal, but smile hiding in at the corners of her mouth advertised the lie of it. She was pretty sure Ellie would look good in burlap and linen. "Not as big on shows of force," she explained. "Causes trouble. Only used when necessary - mostly they just look scary and encourage people to leave. Only had to physically remove anybody...a couple of times? A client only once." She sat back upright, shrugging. "Fun to watch, but boils down to reminding them of the agreement. No weapons research, no way, no how. Forfeits contract, waives rights to research materials provided, funding already given. Ones stupid enough to try it also don't like that answer, but HAX has good lawyers." She hesitated, frowning. "Kind of wish it'd come down to punching, sometimes. A lot simpler. Less paperwork. Different type of jerks."

Mara made a 'pffff' sound, sourly blowing at a lock of hair that'd fallen in front of her face. "Long. Not as long as yours, I think, but. Got to invoke the no tolerance clause in a contract, though," she added more brightly, smiling an unfriendly and awfully self-satisfied smile. "Contract was supposed to be for improving laser focus on medical equipment. Turns out company had defense jobs - including offensive laser weaponry with focus problems." The young company-owner leaned over a bit, unapologetically watching Ellie change - though aside from a raised eyebrow, she kept her expression as neutral as possible. "So, had digging done, found evidence, sent notice of contract breach yesterday. Showed up today. Lots of yelling, posturing, intimidation attempts. Always fun to watch, but security's too good for it to last long."

For the sake of my own comparison, here's an extremely rough draft of what it'd look like if I folded the drones into her main array: Offensive Array 20 (40pp array; Feats: Accurate 3, Alternate Power 6) [49pp] BP: Blast 12 (Extras: Secondary Effect) [36/40pp] (spatial blast) AP: Blast 12 (Extras: Autofire 1; Feats: Homing, Indirect 2, Split Attack) [40/40pp] (drone beamspam) [drone] AP: Strike 12 (Extras: Penetrating [DMG 24]) [24/40pp] (spatial blade) AP: Stun 12 [24/40pp] (taser hand) AP: Dazzle 12 (Visual; Extras: Linked [Nauseate]) + Nauseate 12 (Extras: Linked [Dazzle], Range [Ranged], Flaws: Sense-Dependent [Visual], Limited [sicken]) [24+12= 36/40pp] [drone] AP: Dimensional Pocket 12 (Feats: Progression [Cargo] 1, Quick Change) [26/40pp] AP: ESP 6 (Auditory, Visual, 20 mile range; Extras: Simultaneous, Action [Free]; Flaws: Limited [reachable by air drone]; Feats: Rapid 1 [10x search speed]) [drone]Communication 6 (Auditory, 20 mile; Flaws: Limited [reachable by air drone]) [drone] Move Object 2 (STR 10; Extras: Action [Move], Range [Perception]) [25+3+8= 36/40pp] [drone] Super-Senses 2 (Radius [All Visual Senses]) [2pp] [drone] Illusion 1 (Auditory, Visual; Extras: Duration [sustained, free action to maintain]) [4pp] [drone] Total cost: 55pp inside the suit device. Net cost: 26pp inside the suit device, after removing the current spatial array. Prospective budget remaining: 22pp outside device & 4pp inside, or 27pp & 4pp if redeeming award for equipment points. So, far and away mathematically superior, and potentially beefs up her standard powers besides. Loses something major in the cleanliness, though...it also doesn't use the array space very efficiently, as the blast powers are more expensive than the rest of the array. Could whittle the autofire blast down or pack stuff in there (maybe put Drain Tou on the blade to make it especially nasty), but seeing as they're already only 1pp per power I'm not that worried about it. There is at least one downside, which is that she can't take advantage of ESP/Communication/Move Object while in combat, which probably doesn't matter but kinda sucks; trying to have that outside the array, even at lower ranks (~1 mile, STR 5) ends up costing a lot (-1pp from dropping the AP, +23pp for the total lower-ranked powers; total cost 76, net cost 47 inside device, remaining budget 6pp outside and etc etc etc). I could drop the range even further, but because of the current build of the power I'd have to do it two ranks at a time, which'd mean going from 1 mile to 100 feet, which...isn't a lot. Still, that'd only be 13pp, which'd be a net total cost of 38pp in the device (leaving 14pp and 2 device pp for everything else). Doable, I guess. Not ideal.

Scratchpad time! So, Dragonfly hasn't gotten edits in...two and a half years now. Eheh. It's also become increasingly clear that she's...not so hot in combat, as her only real options are (1) pocket folks, (2) straight-up Damage them, and (3) try to Stun them, which traditionally hasn't gone well for most fights. Which sucks. At the very least, more options wouldn't hurt - describing the same blast over and over and over in some fights has gotten kinda boring. I've also wanted to give her some drones for a while, as she has a history of (non-combat) drone creation and it seems right up her alley...plus it helps distinguish her from other battlesuits. I was going to do this with actual Minions, but there are...logistical problems. Rolling a billion times is boring and ultimately more work for me and the GM. Breaking the action economy is probably not honorable, either...and it'd let you do really, really cheap things like stack a bunch of Aid actions onto one of her attacks, which is not kosher. It's something I'd do if I was playing a game with some really hardcore min/maxing, but it isn't something I want to do here. So, the other option is our board-favorite practice of modelling things with other powers! Instead of having actual drone 'characters', model the effects and hand-wave the rest. There are still problems here, mind (enemies can't really attack something that doesn't mechanically exist, for instance!), but the problems are less uncomfortable and the handwaving less frantic. Expensive, though. So very expensive. I thought about what I'd want her drones to do, mechanically and thematically, and as a first draft it came out a little something like this: Drone Container 9.6 (48pp container) [48pp] Drone Array 18 (36pp array; Feats: Accurate 3, Alternate Power 3) [42pp] Blast 12 (Extra: Autofire; Feats: Homing, Indirect 3, Split Attack) [40pp] (edit: whoops, doesn't actually fit in the array. Not going to fix this right now.) ESP 6 (Auditory, Visual, 5 miles; Feats: Rapid 1 [10x search speed]; Extras: Simultaneous, Action [Free]; Flaws: Limited [reachable by air drone]) [25pp], Communication 6 (Auditory, 5 miles; Flaws: Limited [reachable by air drone]) [3pp], Move Object 2 (STR 10; Extras: Action [Move], Range [Perception]) [8pp] (edit: aaand the distance on Communication here is wrong, meaning this power's actually 1pp too expensive. Stupid combo powers.) Dazzle 12 (Visual; Extra: Linked [Nauseate]) [24pp] + Nauseate 12 (Extras: Linked [Dazzle], Range [Ranged], Flaws: Sense-Dependent [Visual], Limited [sicken]) [12pp] Snare 12 (Feats: Reversible, Tether; Extras: Regenerating) [36pp] Super-Senses 2 (Radius [All Visual Senses]) [2pp] Illusion 1 (Auditory, Visual; Extras: Duration [sustained, free action to maintain]) [4pp] So she'd have a reasonably nasty beamspam attack that can attack from anywhere and will try again if you dodge the first time. A utility set that'd let her observe distant spots and search wide areas (it maths out to about 5 minutes to search a 5-mile-radius area, which is kind of nuts, actually), she can talk through drones in that area, and she can move relatively light objects in that area (by sacrificing a move action; presumably the drones aren't very good at manipulating arbitrary objects as they fly). A somewhat nasty dazzle + nauseate to neutralize enemies; area would be nice on this one, but single-target will do and is a little less mean. Area is expensive, anyway! A decent few-frills snare. All-round vision. An illusion power that's almost pure flavor; at most it'll let other people see what she sees through drones, or help with planning. Largely just for fun, and not very convincing when put under scrutiny, since it's just a drone playing projector. A couple things to note here: The Limited flaw on the ESP powers ('reachable by drone') is not in any way vetted out. I find it fairly reasonable (drone travel time is abstracted/a complication, but the ESP could be defeated by a locked door or some rubble), but I haven't run it past anyone yet.Having two arrays that contain powers requiring standard actions is...less than optimal. This would not replace her (amusingly smaller) main suit array, it'd just be a second container inside her suit device. Having both attacks up would still only let her use one per round, meaning that only the ESP setting gives her something she couldn't have better by just rolling all these pp into her main suit array and doing it there.No, seriously. HORRIBLE POWER POINT ECONOMY. Just the worst.This also ends up being fairly expensive. Even inside a device, it's 48pp in cost, leaving her 2 in-device points and 9 out-of-device points to spend on...everything else. Best case, I could cash in my unspent vet award to buy back the pp invested in Equipment, giving her 14pp on everything else. That's not very many pp! If I had to cut things, Snare would be first on the chopping block; it's the weakest of the presented powers, thematically and mechanically (and I already have at least one hero who snares, and snares better, so that's not as fun). Even then it'd only free up 3pp in the suit and 14pp elsewhere to try to give Dragonfly a 1PL boost and fill in more skills/INT/CHA/etc. Hrrm. EDIT: Yes, yes. The clear alternative, and what I was more or less alluding to above, would be to fold some or all of this into the main suit offensive array, which'd save a whole boatload of points. Stuff like ESP and Communication could be pulled out, possibly at higher ranks, for a pretty decent net win on the final math and no real harm to the action economy. It'd be a lot less clean, but cheaper and less silly. It's something I'm considering. Powers were left in their own container here as a first preference and just so it'd be easier to build them out and decide what I wanted out of them in the first place.

"Ha!" Tiamat started a bit at the swat, but laughed, grinning a grin that had entirely too many teeth. "Well, that's alright. After all, it isn't every day a deity admits to their failings - first step is admitting the fault in your tastes, and then we'll work on improving your tastes and get 'em into shape in no time." She shoved her hands into her new jacket, slowing down for a step or two to get a revenge appraisal. "But hey," she slowly added, in as admonishing a tone as she could manage while still working some whiskey and beer out of her system, "don't be sellin' yourself too short, hmm? Y'aren't limited to mere goddess perfection if you put your mind to it. Y'got the firmness down, looks like, and you might match me for muscle - maybe; give that human body a few more years and you could almost catch up with my most glorious behind. If you work at it."

Wraith scuttled in through the hole behind Cobalt Templar like some kind of awful, liquid movie monster - rather than contend with the rubble and debris of her cohort's more dramatic entrance, she opted to simply crawl across the side of the hole and up onto the wall, where her joints reversed and her head turned inside-out so that her eyes were on the correct side to view the scene before her. "Mental manipulation is a crime in most societies," she politely pointed out, "and those few places it is allowed do not sound like good places to be. It is harm, and cannot be tolerated by civilized people."

Note to self ('cos I keep forgetting!): Sheet pending Powers & Tactics, per in-chat discussion with horngeek.

Gaian Knight looked down at the village with grim curiosity, though not so grim as it had been - the knowledge that so much of this was going to be wiped out was awful, and the unknown fate of the inhabitants was...well. Better than dying, at least. That had been the idea. "I'd rather not get too close if it can be helped," he admitted; he at least tried to oblige by giving Frank and a couple of the other onlookers dips in the edge of the platform to look down through so that they didn't have to lean out over the edge quite so uncomfortably far. Catching people with rocks worked, but he'd been told it wasn't an amazingly comfortable experience. "If we have a specific reason to get closer we can, but if possible I'd much rather rely on, say, camera zoom. They're already pretty worked up, and I don't want to risk making that worse. Plus, we don't know a whole lot about them still," he added thoughtfully, frowning. "Something the crab-hunter said...." He trailed off, but Tiamat was happy to pick the thought up for him. "Yeah, caught that too," she agreed, still keeping an ear on the chatter below for any interesting bits. "False prophets end up right by coincidence all the time - had a couple fortune tellers predict my own whims and raids right a couple of times, heheh - but it sounds like that shaman is either really lucky, or they're packin' some real ability. Didn't plan on something like that."

"Of course." It was a simple answer to a simple question; Mara had to pause for a moment afterward, but it was less to weigh the option of staying over at Ellie's and more to mentally re-arrange the next few days' schedules to allow for the extra travel time and projected delays. "Will give her a chance to show me what she's been working on, too." She sat down on the bench, setting the bag of goodies next to her and folding her hands in her lap. "And that's...fair. Explosions are bad news. Reality tears, worse news - invites bad, bad things through. Nasty tentacled parasite things from outside reality. Ruptured spleens don't have those." She blinked, cocking her head. "...hopefully. Tell me spleens don't have those?"