Countess - Faust - PL 10 (villain)

[Faust]

Players Name: Faust

Power Level: 10

Characters Name: Countess

Alternate Identity: Eve Bathory

Height: 5'10

Weight: 120 lbs

Hair: Black

Eyes: Black

Description:

History:

Stats: 84pp

Str: 10 (+0)

Dex: 14 (+2)

Con: 10 (+0)

Int: 40 (+15)

Wis: 30 (+10)

Cha: 40 (+15)

Combat: 0pp

Attack: +0

Defense: +0

Initiative: +2

Grapple: +0

Saves: 19pp

Toughness: +0

Fortitude: +8

Reflex: +6

Will: +15

Skills: 7pp

Computers 5

Disable Device 5

Sleight of Hand 8

Swim 10

Feats: 32pp

Attractive 4

Benefit (Wealth) 7

Connected

Contacts

Distract (Bluff)

Eidetic Memory

Equipment 7

Headquarters-Bathory Keep

Features: Living Space, Communications, Computers, Defense System,

Fire Prevention System, Garage, Holding Cells, Laboratory, Library,

Power System, Pool, Security System 6, Workshop, Holding Cells

Powers: Mind Shield 10

Size: Huge

Fascinate (Bluff)

Fascinate (Diplomacy)

Fearless

Improvised Tools

Inventor

Jack-Of-All-Trades

Leadership

Master Plan

Taunt

Well-Informed

Powers: 8pp

Device 2

Anti-Magic Amulet

Immunity(Magic)

Drawbacks:

Complications:

Countess will not associate with mutants, extra terrestrial beings, extra dimensional beings. She would, however associate with characters who derive their powers

from devices or learned skills. She may or may not associate with magic users.

Countess does not sneak nor hide.

DC Block:

ATTACKS: SAVE DC: DAMAGE TYPE:

(Name of Attack) (Save DC/Type) (Type of Damage: Bruise/Injury, or other)

Unarmed Attack +0(DC15) Toughness Bludgeon, Crit 20

Costs: Abilities (84) + Combat (00) + Saves (19) + Skills (7) + Feats (32) + Powers (8) - Drawbacks (00) = Total Cost

Is it ok I haven't filled her description and history yet? I still have to compose those.. and where to put her headquarters

Also, I'm not sure I've given her valid complications.

[Dr Archeville]

We tend not to look at characters until there's a background/history and description of them, justification for the stats (like her incredibly high mental ability scores). Those make the character a character, and not just a bunch of numbers

A few pointers, though:

* With an Attack, Defense, Toughness, and damage-dealing ability all of 0, she's going to be in for a world of hurt when she gets into any sort of combat. Especially if she's not at all the stealthy type.

* With Benefit 7 (Wealth 7), she'll be one of the richest people on the planet.

* With Security System 6 on her HQ, that'll be a DC 45 Disable Device check to break in. That's... very high. Though, being an old castle (I'd presume), I'm guessing there'd be enough cracks and holes and whatnot for liquid- or gaseous-form beings to enter (not to mention energy beings, truly incorporeal critters, and teleporters).

Complications are valid, I'd say: one's a form of racism, one's a form of extreme pride.

[Chumpsteady]

A day late and a dollar short. I was thinking of a character with the Bathory name :P

[Chumpsteady]

I hope I'm not creeping in on your character creation, but I would like to ask if you would be cool with you if I used the Bathory surname. If not, I understand. If so, maybe we could compare stories?

[Faust]

We tend not to look at characters until there's a background/history and description of them, justification for the stats (like her incredibly high mental ability scores). Those make the character a character, and not just a bunch of numbers

Yes, of course It's just taking me some time to compose...lol, intimidated by how impressive people write their characters' history. Basically she's a daughter of a very very wealthy man who left Freedom City. She inherits his fortune after his untimely death and the death of her older brother. Because of the scandals and accusations against her, she decides to go back to her father's home city. It's not that she's hiding from the scandals, but she just hates it there. There are just one or two super powered beings where she came from. She was disgusted on how they (she feels) abuse their power...power that they did not earn or work for. Though she didn't actually earn her fortune, she did dedicate her life to study and learn so that people and her father could say she could have made it on her own. To her knowledge is power and wealth. She believes any power she has was earned by her. At Freedom City she is surprised to hear about the number of special powered beings. Just out of hatred, she decides to find ways to eradicate them. She is too blinded to see that she abuses power like they do (her defense would be she earned her right to use her power). To start, she uses her fortune to upgrade her keep (hmm, a keep does sound too big..maybe just a mansion would do) in anticipation of the super beings. Magic is still strange to her so she uses her father's connections to find something to protect her..and they give her the amulet.

There are still lots to work out with her history. I still have yet to decide where she's from and how she doesn't lose her fortune (easy way out would be saying she has people managing everything for her while she manages them..would that be ok?)

A few pointers, though:

* With an Attack, Defense, Toughness, and damage-dealing ability all of 0, she's going to be in for a world of hurt when she gets into any sort of combat. Especially if she's not at all the stealthy type.

Thanks, but I plan to have her plan to work with others hopefully her charisma will do her good and prevent her enemies from wanting to do combat with her and having her ally's fight for her.

* With Benefit 7 (Wealth 7), she'll be one of the richest people on the planet.

oh, is there anything wrong with that?

* With Security System 6 on her HQ, that'll be a DC 45 Disable Device check to break in. That's... very high. Though, being an old castle (I'd presume), I'm guessing there'd be enough cracks and holes and whatnot for liquid- or gaseous-form beings to enter (not to mention energy beings, truly incorporeal critters, and teleporters).

hmmm...yeah, I might change it into a mansion

Complications are valid, I'd say: one's a form of racism, one's a form of extreme pride.

Yeah, that was what I was going for.

Thanks for the pointers and the time to analyze the sheet :)

[Faust]

I hope I'm not creeping in on your character creation, but I would like to ask if you would be cool with you if I used the Bathory surname. If not, I understand. If so, maybe we could compare stories?

I don't mind

and if i do find a better name, i might change hers

hey, if you're making a character with no super powers (just a super gifted human) and my character is approved then you're character may hang out in my char's headquarters. lol

[Dr Archeville]

Thanks, but I plan to have her plan to work with others hopefully her charisma will do her good and prevent her enemies from wanting to do combat with her and having her ally's fight for her.

Well, that's all well and good, in theory at least, but there's a few snags:

* She should have some Minions, some allies she can always count on to do her dirty work.

* With no ranks in any Interaction skill (like Diplomacy), she'll be relying on just her Charisma. With a +15 modifier, on average (25) she can make Hostile folks Indifferent (and with a bit more work, from Indifferent to Helpful)... but that presumes you can even get them to hear her out in the first place (assuredly not an option for, say, robots or zombies). And Interaction Skills only work against NPCs, not PCs.

* Most importantly, your character is going to get into combat, in some way, at some time -- heroes will trace her through her captured flunkies, enemies from her past (see below) will show up on her doorstep, etc.. A typical PL 6 character would have no problem taking her out. And while being taken out by a relatively low-powered (and possibly inexperienced) hero would give her more reason to hate those meddling supers... is it really something you want to have happen in every fight she'd get into? Even Lex Luthor has some combat ability.

* Lastly, think on this: is the character as you have her described truly the type of character someone would play at a more traditional tabletop game? Or is it the type of character which would be more typically used as a GM-controlled NPC?

oh, is there anything wrong with that?

Not a problem, per se (even the FC Campaign Setting book suggests having a PC or other GM-made character be the wealthiest in the city), but it is going to take a lot of background stuff to explain how she's approximately as wealthy as some folks who've been amassing wealth for thousands of years. If it's inherited, how did the folks she got it from acquire it in the first place? And if it did all come from inheritance, there's probably going to be other things she's inheriting, to, like enemies from their past.

hmmm...yeah, I might change it into a mansion

That... doesn't really address the issue. Why would her home have significantly better security than the Freedom League's and Overshadow's HQs?

Be sure to check the Freedom City Encyclopedia for more info on some of these people & organizations.

[Faust]

Ahh, I see...

I've got lot's of kinks to work out.

-will definitely consider getting minions..or a sidekick? leaning towards minions.

-I suddenly got confused with her skills... max rank is 15 right? so does that mean if I have +15 due to ability modifiers, I can't add anymore ranks? Or I can add ranks but it becomes useless?

-With her, I wanted the challenge of avoiding confrontation by combat. It's not like I'm making a disposable character, but if she gets captured or knocked out, then that's part of her adventure I don't mind. Killed however..well hopefully there aren't any heroes that kill (though she would be having villainous enemies). So yeah, I'll have to put points in combat.

-when I used to play tabletop I've always made combat oriented characters.. but I've always wanted to try a character that uses charisma and skill to avoid combat and see if it's possible not getting into a combat situation. But yeah, you're right, I've gotta put in combat skills.

-I'll do my best to explain Benefit 7(Wealth) in her history. I was thinking benefit 6 were filthy rich people while benefit 7 could be Donald Trump (I assume he's wealthier than the average filthy rich folk).

-About the headquarters, I understand... I'll tone the security down. I was planning to make her home a safe haven or base of operations for human villains (maybe on occasion,human heroes)..but I guess security system 6 is too much.

I'll be updating her sheet as soon as possible.

Thanks for the tips :)

[Dr Archeville]

-will definitely consider getting minions..or a sidekick? leaning towards minions.

Both are good

-I suddenly got confused with her skills... max rank is 15 right? so does that mean if I have +15 due to ability modifiers, I can't add anymore ranks? Or I can add ranks but it becomes useless?

Not useless at all! The total skill modifer comes from two things: skill ranks and the associated ability score modifier. The most ranks you can have in a given skill is (PL+5), or 15 ranks for a Pl 10 character. The maximum modifier you can have from ability scores is (PL+5) (at least, for Dex, Int, Wis, and Cha). So she could have a maxed ability modifier (+15 from Cha 40) and maxed ranks in, say, Diplomacy (15 ranks) for a total Diplomacy skill modifier of +30.

-With her, I wanted the challenge of avoiding confrontation by combat. It's not like I'm making a disposable character, but if she gets captured or knocked out, then that's part of her adventure I don't mind. Killed however..well hopefully there aren't any heroes that kill (though she would be having villainous enemies). So yeah, I'll have to put points in combat.

-when I used to play tabletop I've always made combat oriented characters.. but I've always wanted to try a character that uses charisma and skill to avoid combat and see if it's possible not getting into a combat situation. But yeah, you're right, I've gotta put in combat skills.

Killing is a definite rarity here, as rare as combat is common. "She's not a fighter" is certainly not an invalid part of a character concept, I just wanted to make sure you were fully aware of the ramifications.

-I'll do my best to explain Benefit 7 (Wealth 7) in her history. I was thinking benefit 6 were filthy rich people while benefit 7 could be Donald Trump (I assume he's wealthier than the average filthy rich folk).

Donlad Trump's net worth is approximately $3 billion. This is nothing to sneeze at... but he's not even at the bottom rung of the top 100 wealthiest people on Earth (the lowest person there is worth three times what Trump is; the wealthiest is worth over 20 times what Trump is!).

Wealth being a somewhat abstract thing in M&M, there isn't really a handy chart (that I know of) saying "you're worth this many million/billion at this level of Wealth." (One might could be reverse-engineered from the Wealth charts in D20 Modern and its associated supplements.) Best there is is what the book says: Benefit/Wealth 1 makes you Affluent, Benefit/Wealth 2 makes you low-end Wealthy, Benefit/Wealth 3 makes you high-end Wealthy, Benefit/Wealth 4 makes you mid-level Rich, Benefit/Wealth 5 makes you high-end Rich, and Benefit/Wealth 6 or more makes you "Filthy Rich."

[Faust]

Thanks for clearing things up:)

-Hmm...still deciding on sidekick vs minion(s) vs both

-I've given her Attractive 4 (I want her to be to be only extra persuasive against people who find her attractive.).. so she'll be getting 15 (char) + 15 (16 but max is 15 from bluff/diplomacy due to attractiveness) so it's a potential +30. Hopefully that's enough to lure some NPC's to help her out.

-I'll still be giving her combat, but only enough for minimal defense. She either learned fencing or some other art.

-Benefit 6 it is then I'm assuming 6 is enough to explain how she can afford state of the art home defense (and paying off npc's). I just have to explain benefit 6 through her history now.

[Dr Archeville]

Do be aware that, since PL caps are "Hard" caps, she can only have up to Attractive 3 (for +12 to Bluff & Diplomacy). Strictly by the rules, she can't have more and just not use some of the bonus. As she gains PL she can gain more Attractive, though that would of course take some explaining ;)

[Faust]

hahaha, thanks for the link

oh, I didn't know about the hard caps..

so i have to give 3 points each to diplomacy and bluff to make it a +30..

I can be happy with +27 though

She was just born attractive..no surgeries damn it!!

Ethereal beauty + upbringing + natural charm = attractive 3 :P

[Dr Archeville]

Faust, are you still around?

[Faust]

oh, sorry for not updating this... been terribly busy at work this past months. almost no time to fix the kinks of my character.. oh, but instead of a sidekick i gave her a pda like device with powers...i'll update this asap

sorry again for the delay

[Heridfel]

Archived until further notice. Please PM a referee to move it back to the Character Bank.