Sample Character #3: Mimic

Mimic

[GM Notes: You can do anything you want - as long as someone else with superpowers is there with you and can do it too! The corebook Mimic is built very poorly - the giant Variable Power is too much book-keeping for new players and the Mimic as built can’t really do anything unless they’ve copied someone’s powers. What I’ve done here instead is build one of comics’ more famous Mimics - letting you be a secondary brick for your team even before you’ve copied powers. If you don't like the idea of being like animated Rogue, there are lots of other places you can spend your PP, though.]

Abilities: 4 + 0 + 6 + 0 + 4 + 6 = 20PP
Strength: 30 [14] (+10/+2) 
Dexterity: 10 (+0)
Constitution: 16 (+3)
Intelligence: 10 (+0) 
Wisdom: 14 (+2) 
Charisma: 16 (+3) 

[GM Notes: Strength 30 may not look like much compared to the Paragon build or some of the corebook builds, but it’s still nothing to sneeze at. STR 30 makes you a tough street-level character, like Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Starfire, or Rogue - she’s strong enough to punch through steel doors and the like, and with her Dynamic Array, she can throw people or even cars if she exerts herself] 

Combat: 12 + 8 = 20PP
Initiative: +0
Attack: +6 Base, +10 Unarmed, +14 Mimic
Defense: +10 (+4 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed
Grapple: +16 to +19 (Super-Strength) 
Knockback: -9/-1

[GM Notes: The best place to squeeze points here would be to drop her Attack and Defense and buy Attack Focus (Melee) and Dodge Focus. Note that if you drop her Attack, you’ll also need to buy more ranks in Accurate to go on her Mimic so it stays within caps.] 

Saves: 5 + 5 + 6 = 16PP
Toughness: +12/+3 (+3 Con, +9 Protection [+6 Imp]) 
Fortitude: +8 (+3 Con, +5) 
Reflex: +5 (+0 Dex, +5) 
Will: +8 (+2 Wis, +6) 

[GM Notes: Her saves are OK - averaging out to 7 puts them at -3 her PL, which is a little low but certainly not bad. You could play up her already very low Reflex save by dropping it down even lower and spending those points on Fortitude and Will to emphasize how much of an unstoppable brick she is.]  

Skills: 28R = 7PP
Bluff 10 (+13/+17 [Attractive])
Concentration 2 (+4) 
Gather Information 4 (+7) 
Notice 6 (+8)
Sense Motive 6 (+8)

[GM Notes: Her skills are tightly focused - I figure she uses her high Charisma (and her pretty face!) to sneak close to villains before copying their powers. If you want to make her more of a cat-burglar type, you should replace the interaction skills with Stealth and similar abilities - though if you’re going to do that, make sure you switch around her Charisma and her Dexterity in her abilities!

Another thing you could do is put that Charisma into Intelligence and buy her some science-related skills - perhaps she was a scientist studying superpowers who discovered the key to all superpowers in her research and naturally tested it on herself.] 

Feats: 9PP
Attack Specialization (Unarmed) 2
Attractive
Dodge Focus 4
Takedown Attack
Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

[GM Notes: Again, pretty generic. If you don’t want her to be a melee fighter, drop the Takedown Attack - if you don’t want her to be a pretty face, drop the Attractive. Remember that Attractive means she’s better at using her looks to get by than she is at normal conversations - so she’s not as good as she could be in talking to people who won’t be fooled by a pretty face. Tweaking Feats is a great way to personalize a character!] 

Powers: 35 + 30 + 9 = 75PP

Power Thief Container 6 (30PP Container, Feats: Accurate 4, Second Chance [Concentration checks to maintain powers]) [35PP] (mutation)

Mimic 6 (All Powers, 30PP; Extra: Linked [Stun, +0], Flaw: Tainted) {18} + Stun 6 (Extra: Linked [Mimic, +0]) {12} = [30/30PP]

[GM Notes:

Sample 30PP Mimic Constructions: 

'Blaster'

Blast 6 (Extras: Autofire, Penetrating, Feat: Improved Critical) [25]

Immunity 5 ('Energy Type' Damage) [5]

'Powerhouse'

Enhanced Impervious Toughness 4 (to Impervious 10) {4}

Enhanced Super-Strength 13 (to 13-16) {26}

'Speedster'

Damage 6 (30' radius; Extras: Area [Targeted, Shapeable], Selective) {18}

Speed 6 (500 MPH / 5000' per Move Action) {6}

Quickness 6 (x100) {6} 

~ ]

Paragon Powers Container 6 (30PP Container) [30PP] (cosmic)

Enhanced Strength 16 (to Strength 30 [+10]) {16}
Impervious Toughness 6 {6} 
Paragon Array 6 (6PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power, Dynamic 2) {9} 

• DBE: Flight 0-3 (0 - 50 MPH / 500' per Move Action) {6/6}
• DAP: Super-Strength 0-3 (Effective STR 30 - 45, Heavy Load: 0.75 - 6 tons) {6/6} 

Protection 9 [9PP] (mutation) 

[GM Notes: OK, a lot to talk about here. Her powers mean that if she can touch another superpowered character, she gets 30PP of their superpowers - and they have to make a Fort Save vs DC 16 to avoid the Stun power. Note that her ‘Paragon Powers’ cost 30PP, suggesting that it was a mimicking that went too far. She can copy anybody’s powers, whatever their descriptors, and keeps them until she is stunned in combat, lets them go to copy someone else’s powers, or goes to sleep at night. She also gets all the Drawbacks and Flaws of those powers, given that she has the Tainted flaw. 

You could customize her Mimic by giving it some of the Extras, Flaws, and Feats from the Core Rules and Ultimate Power - maybe she can only copy people of a certain descriptor (the Limited Flaw), maybe she requires skin-to-skin contact (as opposed to just a touch in melee) to copy powers (probably a Drawback)  - or maybe she can copy more than one person at a time (the Extra Subject Extra), or copy anyone she can see (the Perception Range Extra). Removing the linked Stun (maybe to pay for more extras on the Mimic) would make her teammates much more comfortable about letting her use her powers on them. 

She’s an OK secondary Paragon. If you want a blaster like Black Alice from the comics, take her Paragon Powers and turn them into a Magic Array - along with some sort of Detect Magic power. (Then move her skills around so she can actually know something about magic, naturally!) If you don't like the Mimic angle, drop _that_ part and you have 35 PP to spend to customize a street-level powerhouse/paragon. If you want her to focus on her Mimic powers entirely, you could take the Paragon powers out - but I’d keep the Protection so she’s at least defensively PL 10 at all times. If you do drop the Paragon powers, plow them back into Skills, Feats, and Abilities so she can be an asset to the team - maybe into INT and Science-related things so she can be your team’s other Gadgeteer. 

The one thing I would not do is just buy more ranks in Mimic - 30 copied PP is going to be all you’re likely to need, and you don’t want to overspecialize.] 

Drawbacks:  (-0) + (-0) = -0PP

[GM Notes: Remember that Power Drawbacks on her Mimic should be in the Powers section. Things like being haunted by the souls of people whose powers she’s copied - or of not being able to turn her Mimic/Stun off long enough to enjoy a normal romantic life - are really best left to the realm of Complications.] 

DC Block
ATTACK                RANGE   SAVE              EFFECT
Unarmed w/no Powers   Touch   DC 18 Toughness   Damage [Physical]
Unarmed w/Powers      Touch   DC 25 Toughness   Damage [Physical]
Mimic                 Touch   DC 16 Fortitude   Stun

Totals: Abilities (20) + Combat (20) + Saving Throws (16) + Skills (7) + Feats (9) + Powers (75) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points