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In Brief: Huntress dresses like Moon Knight, after going to K'un L'un to learn how to control the Daredevil powers she got from Captain America's super-serum. Player: ShaenTheBrain Character: Mister Strix Power Level: 13 (10) Tradeoffs: None (+2 Attack / -2 Damage [Melee], +1 Attack / -1 Damage [Ranged], +2 Defense / -2 Toughness) Power Points: 193/193 Unspent Power Points: 0 Veteran Rewards: Bronze: Additional character slot at PL12/180PP (Mister Strix) Silver: 5PP of free Equipment ranks for Mister Strix, 10PP of Equipment/Minions/Sidekick unclaimed Residence: An outwardly modest townhouse, with a heavily modified and fortified interior, in the Southside neighborhood of Freedom City. Base of Operations: The bunker hidden under his townhouse. Alternate Identity: Brian Markus Brubaker Identity: Secret Birthplace: Freedom City, New Jersey, USA Occupation: Freelance Transcription Writer and Translator Affiliations: Shambala Temple (former student), Freedom City University (former student) Family: Franklin "Frank" Brubaker (Father, Estranged), Ann Miller-Brubaker (Mother, Deceased), Wade Brubaker (Younger Brother, Deceased), Valerie "Val" Nocenti (Ex-Girlfriend) Catchphrase: "..." Description Age: 27 (DoB: 1989) Apparent Age: 27 Gender: Male Ethnicity: Caucasian (Germanic descent) Height: 6ft 3in Weight: 250 lbs. Eyes: None (Grey prosthetics) Hair: Blonde The skin on the top half of his face is still heavily scarred from being lacerated and burned by jagged shards of superheated shrapnel. His hair and sunglasses hide most of the scars, but not all of them. He wears a set of acrylic prosthetic eyes which mimic his original grey eye color. When out in public in his civilian identity, his usual mode of dress is "business casual" (a holdover from his yuppie/preppie upbringing), and he wears the dark sunglasses and wields the white cane which universally mark him as a blind man. Aside from his blindness, he is in perfect health. Power Description Thanks to the DNAscent process, all of Brian's physical abilities are just outside the normal human range. His strength, speed, endurance, and agility are all slightly higher than what any normal person could achieve, and unlike athletes without super-powers, his body is optimized for all physical activity. For example, he can sprint and run long distances equally well, while a normal human needs a very different body type to excel at either activity. All of Brian's non-visual senses absorb information with far greater detail and sensitivity than a normal human. He can hear a person's heartbeat from across the room, hear a tear sliding down their cheek, and feel the vibration through the floor when they take a step. He can rest a pretzel on his tongue and count exactly how many grains of salt are embedded into it. He can hold a pistol in his hand and know exactly how many bullets are in it by how heavy it feels. He can run his fingers along a page of text and "read" it by feeling the difference between the ink and the paper, or "view" a picture by feeling the differences between the colors of ink or paint. He can carress an object gently enough to feel any fingerprints left on it without disturbing them, and he can perceive enough detail to compare them to other prints. His nose acts as a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, able to distinguish the chemical makeup of a substance by the smell of its molecular components. In essence, his hyperkeen senses turn him into a walking crime laboratory. His enhanced senses of hearing and touch also give him superhuman balance and physical coordination. Brian no longer has eyes, but his brain processes and interprets most of his enhanced sensory input visually. He can hear sound and feel vibration just as a normal human would, but he can also momentarily "see" it, with the waves of different frequencies and different decibel levels of sonic energy appearing to him as differently-colored and sized lines, coating and illuminating the space and/or objects around them. Scents appear in his mind's eye as translucent clouds of mist or smoke, in various colors and sizes, leaving trails he can follow. His sense of smell is acute enough to judge the distance between himself and its source, as a normal human would with sound. As he moves closer to the source of the scent, it becomes measurably "louder" to him. The DNAscent process not only enhanced Brian's original senses, but provided new ones as well. His brain has been altered to include a disk similar to a whale or dolphin's melon, which emits waves of ultrasound in all directions, receives the reflected waves after they bounce off of surrounding objects, and interprets the results. This allows him to "see" in all directions at once, though he focuses on one roughly 180-degree field of "view" at a time, with the rest appearing as translucent overlays. This allows him to "see" just as a normal human would see in the visual light spectrum, only in black, white, and various shades of grey, with the "color" dependent upon the physical surfaces and contours of the objects around him, and their relative distance from him and from each other. For example, he would perceive the bricks and grout of a wall as different shades of grey, with no correlation to their actual color in the visual light spectrum, and he would not perceive chalk drawings or spraypaint at all, unless the paint was thick enough to form a layer visible to the naked eye. The echolocation is far more advanced than that of any existing animals or technological devices, granting him acuity roughly on par with human vision in the visible light spectrum. He can turn his echolocation "off," in a manner similar to how a human closes their eyes. While it is active, anyone capable of perceiving ultra-sound can detect the waves emanating from his brain and the echoes returning to it. History Brian Brubaker never saw things clearly until the day he lost his eyes. "You can have anything you want, but you have to want it enough. With hard work, anything is possible. People get what they deserve." Frank Brubaker made sure his sons lived by those words. He was a self-described "city college kid" who "pulled myself up from nothing by my own boostraps." Ann Miller was a minimum-wage kid who hitched a ride out of the trailer park as soon as she could pass for 18. They were young and hungry, willing to do whatever it took to get ahead. By the time their first child was born, Brubaker Imports was one of Freedom City's most prominent shipping empires, moving just about anything that needed moving to just about anywhere in the world. Their kids grew up in a penthouse and went to private schools. But Frank always stressed the importance of hard work. His kids weren't going to have a free ride. They were going to work for everything they had, just like he had. Brian idolized his father, and spent every waking moment striving to earn his pride. He got near perfect grades, tried out for every sport, auditioned for every play, took after-school jobs and summer internships. Brian was 20, home from his sophomore year of university, the day he saw his family for the last time. His mother and little brother were already waiting in the limo. Brian was running down the driveway when the driver turned the key. They were going to pick up Brian's father on the way. They didn't make it. The ignition switch set off the car bomb. Ann and David were blown to pieces. Shrapnel shredded Brian's eyes and left deep cuts in his face. Brian woke up in the hospital to his father's voice, telling him that he was going to fix everything. He'd only been there a couple of days when his father told him he was being moved to a "private clinic." Brian didn't know why the new nurse sedated him. He was kept in an induced coma, but he could still hear the people around him. As the "treatments" progressed, he could hear them louder, more clearly, from further away. He heard things he was never meant to hear. Frank Brubaker's life was a lie. When recounting his family history, he'd neglected to mention that his grandfather was none other than the infamous Hans Graumach, also known as Die Eule of the Nazi superteam Die Ubersoldaten. In Frank's case, the apple didn't fall far from the tree. If he had told his sons the truth, then their words to live by would have been "In devastation, there is opportunity. When there is blood in the streets, buy property." The car bomb was meant for Frank, a "gift" from one of his "business rivals." The Brubaker fortune didn't come from moving freight. It came from smuggling and human trafficking, on an industrial scale. Frank and Ann's operation was built during the tail end of the Franklin Moore era and the aftermath of the Terminus Invasion. With a period of low superhero presence in town, and the sudden death and destruction of so many Freedom City citizens and their properties (legitimate businesses and mob fronts alike), they were able to quietly build up and then quickly fill a niche. These days, Brubaker Imports is a subsidiary of Delphic Industries, which is in turn owned and operated by Constantine Urallos, part of the inner circle of Taurus. Most of the trafficked victims are sold to sweatshops or into domestic slavery. Some are given to The Labyrinth to become test subjects for the DNAscent process. When Brian lost his eyes, Frank called in a favor. He didn't want Brian to become a brainwashed super-thug. He just wanted to give his only surviving son his eyes back. He didn't bother to get Brian's consent before submitting him to the DNAscent process. As far as the Labyrinth scientists were aware, the treatment failed. Brian's body was enhanced just past the peak physical condition for a normal human, but his eyes had failed to regenerate. Brian had heard enough to know he should keep the unintended side-effects to himself. He didn't tell anyone about how all his other senses had been enhanced, or how he now possessed a natural sonar that would be the envy of every navy on Earth. The DNAscent process didn't restore what he'd lost, but it enhanced everything he had left. He knew that he would need to keep his cards close to his chest if he were ever going to be able to use his new gifts to dismantle the horrific empire his father had built on a foundation of blood and human misery. He was quiet and distant after his "recovery." His father didn't press the issue. Frank was consumed with guilt, a foreign sensation to him. When Brian decided to "study abroad," Frank didn't try to stop him. The school in Spain returned Brian's tuition cheque. He had never shown up. Brian eluded the bodyguards Frank had secretly sent after him before they made it out of the airport. His bank account was emptied, and if the funds were transferred to a new one, it wasn't one Frank's people were able to trace. Brian Brubaker vanished off the face of the Earth. He wandered through Europe and Asia for a time, before he found himself chasing the legend of Shambala Vale, scaling the mountain peaks, and finding refuge among the ancient order of monks. They taught him how to focus his new senses. They instructed him in the original martial art from which all others descended. They helped to temper his rage. During one of his meditations, he observed an owl plucking a rat off the ground right before that rat broke into a container of stored rice. That incident became a symbol for him, and soon, it would become a symbol for his people. Seven years after he left, Brian Brubaker quietly returned to Freedom City. His father employed thugs, crooked cops, money-laundering accountants, coyotes and snakeheads, all vermin who preyed upon the innocent and the desperate. Brian became a creature of the night who would rid his city of that vermin. He became Mister Strix. Personality Brian grew up as a happy son who idolized his father. Now that idol has fallen farther than he ever thought possible. The revelation of his father's true nature forced Brian to re-examine everything he ever thought he knew about himself and the world around him. Good things didn't always come to those who worked hard for them like he was always taught. In fact, more often than not, the worst things happened to the best people, while the worst people took advantage of them and laughed all the way to the bank. Even if you never give up, you can still lose. Those revelations, and the trauma of his injuries, lost family members, and subsequent transformation, left him bitter, cynical, and full of rage. Gaining the ability to know when most people are lying showed him just how often people lie, which eroded his faith in human nature even further. His time with the Shambala monks helped to soften that edge, but he still believes that justice only happens in the world when a righteous person forces it to. The monks showed him that the world can be a better place than it is, without vermin like his father gnawing at its foundations. But they will, unless an owl comes along to eat them first. So much of the world he thought he knew is a dirty lie, that he's not even sure it's worth saving. But he'll die before he stops trying to save it, because it's his people who corrupt and destroy it, so he owes the world that much. These days, Brian enjoys solitude, partially as a result of his disillusionment and partially as a practical matter of his enhanced senses amplifying every outside stimulus. Just as everyone a speedster meets is the annoyingly slow customer in front of them in the ATM or checkout line, every person Brian meets is the neighbor who blasts his TV or stereo at all hours of the night or the guy sitting next to him on the bus who hasn't showered in a week. He rarely engages in conversation at all, and even when he does engage, he remains laconic, withholding, almost sullen. He does have a sense of humor, but it leans toward the dry, the morbid, and the self-depricating. He is reluctant to volunteer information, and his reaction to those he meets defaults to suspicion (though his powers make clearing that suspicion and earning some measure of trust a faster process than it would be otherwise). Everyone is guilty (of something) until proven innocent, but it's easy for him to prove them innocent. Powers & Tactics Brian is an expert martial artist, and a world-class detective, athlete, and inflitrator. The DNAscent process left him at peak physical condition, just barely superhuman. His enhanced senses make it almost impossible to lie to him or to catch him off-guard. He prefers to strike from stealth, ending a fight in one decisive blow before it begins. When facing a foe directly, he still takes any opportunity to remove the advantage of their sight, whether by destroying light sources or by deploying smoke bombs. He adapts his fighting style to each opponent, seeking to counter them rather than match them or beat them at their own game. If they seem to favor karate punches and kicks or the knee and elbow strikes of muay thai, he'll use jiujutsu grapples. If they fight defensively, focusing on avoiding or parrying, he'll be aggressive, getting inside their defenses quickly and ferociously. Since the Shambala style is the foundation for every martial art on Earth, anyone fighting him is likely to see something familiar, and something completely foreign. He uses his cape to obscure and distort his movements. His enhanced agility allows him to move and strike in unexpected directions and angles relative to his foes. He uses custom-built throwing knives, stylized like crescent moons or owl beaks or talons, to disarm and distract foes at a distance, before closing in to finish the job. Complications Addiction (Caffeine, Painkillers): Brian's enhanced senses cause him headaches and make it difficult for him to get restful sleep. The meditation techniques he learned in Shambala Vale mitigate this problem, but they do not eliminate it entirely. The GM can force Brian to save against effects like Nauseate, or automatically inflict conditions like Sickened, to represent the pain caused either by his powers or by medication withdrawal. The GM can also inflict conditions like Fatigued upon Brian to represent lost sleep. Disability (Blindness): Brian's enhanced touch can feel the difference between ink and paper, and even between different pigments, which allows him to perceive color by touch. His echolocation, on the other hand, can perceive distance, size, and shape, but not color. It can perceive texture, but not with the same level of detail as normal human vision. This means he can only read text or view pictures if they are within arms reach. The screens of television sets, computer monitors, tablets, and smartphones may as well be blank to him, even to his touch, unless they are versions of those devices specifically made for blind users. He cannot perceive the level of light in the local area directly. At best, he can guess if he is in close enough proximity to a light source by feeling the heat from it, if it emits significant heat at all. (He can feel the heat from incandescent bulbs, but LED bulbs are difficult at best.) Anything in his surroundings which depends on light, text, or color is invisible to him once it is physically out of reach. His enhanced smell can identify people by their individual scent, and his echolocation and tremorsense together provide enough detail to differentiate between people based on size, shape, and mass, but not enough to let him tell their faces apart from one another. He is physically capable of operating a vehicle or heavy machinery, but he cannot obtain a license to do so while maintaining his secret identity. Enemies (Frank Brubaker, The Labyrinth, Katanarchists): Neither Brian nor his father understand the full scope of The Labyrinth. Brian's father is a very small piece in a very big game. Brian's disruption of human trafficking operations has caused him to cross paths with a splinter sect of Katanarchists who have been corrupted by the Schattenwelt, and they now count him among their targets. Family Secrets: His father is a crime lord with good publicity, and his great-grandfather was a Nazi. Lost Love: Brian had a girlfriend in college, Valerie "Val" Nocenti. When he vanished from her life without warning, she came looking for him. When she asked too many questions, Frank Brubaker panicked and overreacted. He had her kidnapped and subjected to the DNAscent process, turning her into his brainwashed bodyguard and enforcer. The woman Brian loved now stands at his hated father's side. Noticeable (Echolocation): Anyone with Ultra-Hearing, or any other applicable Super-Senses, can hear the waves of ultrasound being broadcast and received by Brian's brain when he uses his echolocation. This includes animals such as dogs, bats, dolphins, and whales. Obligation (Shambala Temple): The monks of the Shambala Vale took Brian in and trained him. One or more of their number may call upon him for aid in the future. Secret (Identity): Brian may be superhuman, but he's not invincible. One sniper's bullet could end him. And if Brian's father finds out who's targeting him, then he'll make Brian wish for a bullet to the head. Vulnerability (Sensory Overload): A GM can inflict a penalty, or a degree of automatic failure, upon Brian's ability to save against any power effect which overwhelms non-Visual type senses, such as an Auditory Dazzle effect from a loud noise, or a Nauseate effect from noxious gas. Brian may also suffer Damage (or some other attack effect), either automatically or with a failed Concentrate check, just by being in close proximity to the source, target, or area of any power with a relevant sensory descriptor, such as "Sonic." A GM may also require Brian to make a Concentrate check in order to take actions or avoid penalties while in the vicinity of a strong senory stimulus. Abilities 16 + 16 + 16 + 6 + 6 + 4 = 64PP Strength: 26 (+8) (Heavy Load: 1,200 lbs.) Dexterity: 26 (+8) Constitution: 26 (+8) Intelligence: 16 (+3) Wisdom: 16 (+3) Charisma: 14 (+2) Combat 8 + 8 = 16PP Initiative: +12 (+8 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative) Attack: +12 Melee (+4 Base, +8 Attack Focus), +4 Ranged (+4 Base), +11 Masterwork Throwing Knives (+4 Base, +6 Attack Specalization, +1 Masterwork) Grapple: +20 (+12 Melee Attack, +8 Strength) Defense: +12 (+4 Base, +8 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-FootedUncanny Dodge Knockback Resistance: 4 ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC23 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical, Bludgeoning) Stunning Attack Touch DC23 Fortitude (Staged) Dazed/Stunned/Unconscious Throwing Knives Ranged DC24 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical, Piercing) Saving Throws 0 + 2 + 7 = 9PP Toughness: +8 (+8 Con) Fortitude: +8 (+8 Con, +0PP) Reflex: +10 (+8 Dex, +2PP)Evasion 2 Will: +10 (+3 Wis, +7PP)Ultimate Save Skills 148R = 37PP Acrobatics 7 (+15)Skill Mastery Climb 7 (+15)Skill Mastery Concentrate 7 (+10) Craft (Structural) 2 (+5) Disable Device 12 (+15)Skill Mastery Escape 7 (+15)Skill Mastery, Ultimate Skill Gather Information 13 (+15) Intimidate 13 (+15)Skill Mastery Investigate 12 (+15) Knowledge (Streetwise) 6 (+10) Languages 7 (Arabic, Braille, Chinese [Mandarin], English [Native], Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish) Notice 17 (+20)Skill Mastery Search 12 (+15) Sense Motive 17 (+20)Skill Mastery Stealth 7 (+15)Skill Mastery Swim 2 (+10)Swimming Feats 39PP Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus (Melee) 8 Attack Specialization (Throwing Knives) 3 Benefit (Wealth 1) Dodge Focus 8 Equipment 5 (25EP)Veteran Reward Evasion 2 Grapple Finesse Hide In Plain Sight Improved Initiative Improved Ranged Disarm Luck 2 Quick Change (Costume) Quick Draw Skill Mastery 2 (Acrobatics, Climb, Disable Device, Escape, Intimidate, Notice, Sense Motive, Stealth) Stunning Attack Takedown Attack Trance Ultimate Save (Will) Ultimate Skill (Escape) Well-Informed Equipment 5PP = 23/25EP Grapple-Gun Super-Movement 1 (Swinging) [2EP] Masterwork Smartphone (Modified for blind users) [1EP] Medication (Caffeine pills, Painkillers) [0EP] Smoke Pellets Obscure 2 (10ft radius, Visual-Type Senses, Extras: Action [Move], Independent, Total Fade, Flaws: Limited [One Sense: Normal Vision], Unreliable [5 Uses], Feats: Slow Fade [1 minute], Drawbacks: Full Power, Reduced Range 2 [2 20ft Range Increments / 40ft Max Range]) [2EP] Throwing Knives Damage 1 (10 10ft Range Increments / 100ft Max Range, Extras: Autofire, Range [Ranged], Feats: Masterwork [+1 Attack], Mighty) [5EP] Tools (Disable Device, Investigate) [0EP] Townhouse with Secret Bunker (PL13 HQ) [13EP] Size: Tiny [-1EP] Toughness: +10 [1EP] (Earthquake-Proofing, Bulletproof Windows, Steel Plate Shear Walls Reinforced With Pre-Cast Concrete) Features: Communications, Computer 2 (Masterwork [modified for blind users]), Concealed (+15DC), Fire Prevention System, Gym, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System 2 (DC25), Workshop [13EP] 2 + 1 + 2 + 5 + 13 = 23/25EP = 5PP Powers 25 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 28PP Enhanced Senses 5 (25PP Container [Passive, Permanent]) [25PP] (Descriptors: Mutation) Immunity 5 (Interaction Skills, Flaws: Limited [1/2 Effect]) [3PP] Super-Senses 6 (Danger Sense 3 [Sense Types: Auditory, Olfactory, Tactile], Uncanny Dodge 3 [Sense Types: Auditory, Olfactory, Tactile]) [6PP] Super-Senses 4 (Normal Hearing [Sense Type: Auditory, Default Extras: Acute, Radius, Ranged], Extras: Accurate, Analytical, Extended [100ft Notice Increments]) [4PP] Super-Senses 5 (Echolocation/Ultra-Hearing [Sense Type: Auditory, Default Extras: Acute, Radius, Ranged], Extras: Accurate, Analytical, Extended [100ft Notice Increments]) [5PP] Super-Senses 4 (Normal Smell/Taste [Sense Type: Olfactory, Default Extras: Radius, Ranged], Extras: Acute, Analytical, Extended [100ft Notice Increments], Tracking [1/2 Speed]) [4PP] Super-Senses 1 (Normal Touch [Sense Type: Tactile, Default Extras: Accurate, Acute, Radius], Extras: Analytical) [1PP] Super-Senses 2 (Tremor-Sense [Sense Type: Tactile, Default Extras: Accurate, Acute, Radius], Extras: Ranged) [2PP] 3 + 6 + 4 + 5 + 4 + 1 + 2 = 25PP Leaping 1 (x2, Running Long Jump: 36ft) [1PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Training) Speed 1 (10MPH / 100ft per Move Action) [1PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Training) Swimming 1 (2.5MPH / 25ft per Move Action, Can always Take 10 on Swimming checks) [1PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Training) Abilities (64) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (9) + Skills (37) + Feats (39) + Powers (28) - Drawbacks (0) = 193/193 Power Points