Sample Character #6: Powerhouse

Powerhouse

[GM Notes: Strong, tough, fast, able to pick up cars and jump hella high - the Powerhouse! Rather than just build this as a “Paragon with no Flight”, I’ve built this character as a street-level powerhouse like Marvel’s Luke Cage or Jessica Jones. She’s an unstoppable juggernaut fighting street-level opponents - and lacking the power of a cosmic character means she has a lot more skills and can do a lot more than just punch things. If you’re looking for a Hulk-style powerhouse, take my Paragon build, switch the Flight to Leaping, maybe add the Normal ID drawback - and you’re good to go.] 

Abilities: 10 + 4 + 10 + 2 + 6 + 8 = 40PP
Strength: 30 [20] (+10/+5)
Dexterity: 14 (+2)
Constitution: 30 [20] (+10/+5)
Intelligence: 12 (+1)
Wisdom: 16 (+3)
Charisma: 18 (+4)

[GM Notes: As mentioned in the Mimic build, Strength 30 puts this character as a solid, balanced superhuman with super-strength. She can punch through steel doors and brick walls without too much trouble - but can't run around lifting jumbo jets or throwing people across the city. I’ve built her as Charisma-heavy to reflect good looks and a strong personality. One good way you could customize her is moving that Charisma up to Intelligence (to reflect a scientist with superpowers, assuming you adjust the skills as well) or even Wisdom to reflect keen senses or perhaps martial arts training. Moving her Charisma to her Dexterity will give you someone who feels more like a physical polymath, skilled in all ways of contending.

If you do move that Charisma into Intelligence, consider giving her Inventor and cybernetics-related skills for a Powerhouse like the Vic Stone Cyborg - possibly with some Super-Senses purchased with drawbacks or other skill adjustments down below.]

Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP
Initiative: +2
Attack: +6 Base, +10 Melee
Defense: +10 (+6 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed
Grapple: +24/+15
Knockback: -10/-2

[GM Notes: With no damage tradeoff, this woman is something of a jack of all trades - able to mix it up with both powerhouses and martial artists. This kind of broad range means that she’ll be able to fit into all kinds of threads without too much worry - always a good thing for a starting character. She’s melee-focused - but if necessary she can still throw heavy objects a long way with a still-decent Attack bonus. If you need to make Area attacks with her, one option is to pick up something big and heavy like a car and use it as a baseball bat. Make sure to review what the core book says about the use of oversized objects for Area attacks.]

Saves: 0 + 4 + 4 = 8PP
Toughness: +10/+5 (+5 Con, +5 Enhanced Con) [10 Impervious]
Fortitude: +10/+5 (+5 Con, +5 Enhanced Con)
Reflex: +6 (+2 Dex, +4)
Will: +7 (+3 Wis, +4)

[GM Notes: Her saves are decent - not too low, not too high, averaging out to just a little below PL -2. +7 on her Will means that your local evil mind controller can cause her some problems (assuming they’re of a comparable PL) but that with enough HP she can probably reliably shake off his powers and give him the what-for.] 

Skills: 76R = 19PP
Bluff 1 (+5)
Diplomacy 1 (+5)
Gather Info 11 (+15)
Intimidate 11 (+15) ^{Skill Mastery}
Investigate 9 (+10) ^{Skill Mastery}
Knowledge (Streetwise) 9 (+10)
Languages 2 (Cantonese, Spanish) (Base: English)
Notice 12 (+15) ^{Skill Mastery}
Sense Motive 12 (+15) ^{Skill Mastery}
Stealth 8 (+10)

[GM Notes: OK, skills are where this character really shines - distinguishing her from all the other bricks out there! I’ve built her as a gruff, streetwise detective who knows almost everything about the neighborhood she protects - in some ways she'll play a lot like a powered Batman. Her high Notice and Sense Motive help with the detecting - and make her a formidable opponent in combat. She has a strong personality to at least try to be nice, or tricky, when she has to be - and she’s a good enough sneak to get around low-level security guards and the like.] 

Feats: 17PP
All-Out Attack
Attack Focus (Melee) 4
Benefit (PI License)
Challenge (Fast Startle) 
Dodge Focus 4
Power Attack
Skill Mastery (Intimidate, Investigate, Notice, Sense Motive) 
Startle
Takedown Attack
Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)
Well-Informed

[GM Notes: It’s up to you - and your GM! - how much benefit the Private Investigator license gives her. One advantage is that it potentially allows snooping around without the use of a costume; always an advantage when you have to do crime-fighting in the grim underbelly of the city. Again, if you’ve made her more Bluff-focused above, switch out the Startle for Taunt and the Fast Startle (letting her Startle as a move action) for Fast Taunt). 

With her ability to All-Out Attack and Power Attack, she can reasonably fight both people with a higher Defense and a higher Toughness than her - or wind up for a big, risky haymaker (an All-Out Power Attack) that could end the fight in one big punch. Manipulating tradeoffs is an excellent skill for any character like this to have. 

An idea - one good way to emphasize how strong your character is (i.e., to provide some fluff for that Startle feat) is for her to take a thug’s gun and crush it between her hands - showing what a powerful character she is in her native street-level setting.] 

Powers: 10 + 10 + 1 + 10 + 3 + 8 = 42 PP

Descriptors: all mutation

Enhanced Constitution 10 (to Constitution 30 [+10]) [10PP]

Enhanced Strength 10 (to Strength 30 [+10]) [10PP]

Immunity 2 (Disease, Poison, Flaw: Limited [Half-Effect]) [1PP]

Impervious Toughness 10 [10PP]

Mighty Movement Array 1 (2PP, Feats: Alternate Powers 1) [3PP] 

• BE: Leaping 2 (x5, Running Long Jump 100', Standing Long Jump 55', Vertical Jump 25') {2/2}
• AP: Speed 2 (25 MPH / 250' per Move Action) {2/2}

Super-Strength 4 (Effective Strength 50; Heavy Load: 12 tons) [8PP]

[GM Notes: She’s very ‘tv budget’ in her powers, shrugging off bullets, ripping doors off their hinges, leaping up into second-story windows, etc. With that half-immunity, reflecting just how enhanced her metabolism is, she’ll have to drink a lot if she wants to go booze it up after a big fight. She’s just about strong enough to pick up a car and use it as a melee weapon, often a handy thing when you need to get some distance in a big fight! 

This build could easily be tweaked in a number of ways - the powerhouse archetype is very broad! If you don’t like the street-level idea, she could be a juvenile/commoner Furion or a Helipolitan, lacking the more advanced powers of many of her kind but still being strong enough and tough enough to be very powerful among humans. If that’s the case, give her some skills to reflect that like Knowledge (Cosmology) or (Theology/Philosophy). If you go the Cyborg route, consider arraying her Enhanced Strength and Super-Strength with some kind of Blast - Blast 10 (Feats: Accurate 2) [22PP] as an AP would let her meet offensive caps with a ranged attack.] 

Drawbacks: (-0) + (-0) = -0PP

[GM Notes: Lots of Vulnerabilities, Weaknesses, etc you could put in here - the books have ideas for drawbacks for chemical, cybernetic, and other 'themed' characters.]

DC Block

ATTACK                RANGE   SAVE              EFFECT

Unarmed w/no Powers   Touch   DC 20 Toughness   Damage [Physical]

Unarmed               Touch   DC 25 Toughness   Damage [Physical]

Totals: Abilities (40) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (8) + Skills (19) + Feats (17) + Powers (42) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points