Fleur de Joie (PL15) - Electra (Orichalcum)

Electra · June 2, 2009

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Players Name: Electra

Power Level: 7 [110/110PP]

Trade-Offs: -3 Attack for +3 Damage, -3 Defense for +3 Toughness

Unspent PP: 0

Click here for PL 15 version.

Characters Name: Stesha Madison

Alternate Identity: Fleur de Joie

Height: 5'3

Weight: Curvy, just leaning toward heavy

Hair: Green

Eyes: Blue

Description: Stesha is an engaging and friendly-looking young woman, small in stature with a curvy body and five pounds she keeps meaning to take off with extra exercise. She smiles most of the time, and always smells like flowers. Her most striking feature is probably her curly green hair, which she usually keeps pinned back and decorated with seasonal flowers. Overall, she's not much of a hero archetype, but she's pretty darn cute.

History:

From the time she was a little girl, Stesha Madison loved plants. At a very early age, she put away her tea set and equipped her dolls and bears with little rakes and shovels so they could help her in the garden. It helped that she grew up in a family that was very big on gardening. Dad taught botany at the university, and Mom was a complementary medicine practitioner and midwife who grew most of her own remedies. Mom always that they met on the opposite sides of a campus protest in the sixties. It was true that they argued a lot, but in the way of people who liked to argue. Stesha's older brothers and sisters liked to argue as well, and so did she, up to a point. But mostly she liked to garden. There was always something that needed to be done, and every day brought new growth and new beauty to look at.

It was hardly a surprise, then, that Stesha followed her dad into the university, majoring in botany. She did well, devouring all the information that was presented to her, but it wasn't her cup of tea. Studying flowers and plants too hard took the magic out of it. Once you'd dissected a rose, it wasn't beautiful anymore, it was just broken and sad, no matter how much you learned. She was more interested in the joy that flowers could give. Her parents were very proud when she graduated with honors, even if her father was a little disappointed that, instead of joining her in the lab, she decided to go to work at a florist.

It wasn't just any florist shop, mind you. Chicago had some very exclusive floral boutiques, and with the contacts both her parents had, she got a job in one of the best. Soon she was doing society weddings, making bouttonires that cost more than her entire prom dress had, and putting together elaborate birthday and anniversary bouquets that would gladden the heart of anyone who saw them. It was a great life, despite the occasional Bridezilla, and she loved it. She'd have been happy to go on that way indefinitely, if everything hadn't changed in a most unexpected way.

It all started with a very unusual piece of window dressing. Even with her degree in botany, Stesha had never heard of the Fleur de Joie blossom until the day her boss brought it into the shop. A very rare, extremely exotic bloom, it flowered only once every hundred years, and this one was set to go soon. "I had to call in a hundred favors," Amy, her boss, enthused, "but this sort of opportunity comes once in a lifetime. Front row seats to history!" That was why Stesha liked Amy, they shared the same enthusiasm for plants. The Fleur de Joie was placed in the front window and monitored like an expectant mother. As its pistils swelled with the coming bloom, Amy began stationing employees to watch it at night, just to make sure they took plenty of pictures and didn't miss a thing. No one knew for sure if it was a day or evening bloomer, and they weren't about to miss out.

After a few days and nights of anxious watching, Stesha's turn came up in the rotation. She staked herself out just a few feet from the plant to make sure she would catch so much as a twitch, then started reading a catalog. A sudden motion caught her attention, and she saw a leaf begin to curl back. Eagerly, she called Amy and told her something was happening, then got ready with the digital camera. As the petals began to uncurl themselves, revealing a beautiful mother-of-pearl color the likes of which Stesha had never seen, she leaned in with the camera and began to take pictures. Suddenly, when her nose was bare inches from the flower, it released a large puff of pollen into the air, right into her face, right into her open mouth. "Yie!" she yelled, reeling backwards in surprise, trying to wipe her face. The whole room seemed to take a long, lazy twirl, and then she passed out.

She woke a few minutes later, sputtering at the glass of water Amy had upended over her head. The flower was still there, huge and immensely beautiful, and Stesha was still covered with pollen. "What happened?" Amy demanded. "Are you all right? Did you see it open?"

"Yeah," Stesha replied, dragging a sleeve across her wet, powdery face. "It was beautiful! And I think I'm allergic," she added wryly. They took hundreds more photos from every angle, and so did the newspaper, and the local news channel. It was a cute local interest story that brought publicity to the shop, just as intended. After a few days, it closed again, and Amy returned it to its owner, and things seemed to settle into their normal routine.

Only it wasn't exactly normal. Stesha started noticing that things were getting a little strange around her. Plants seemed to... respond to her in a way they hadn't before. Her African violets grew to twice their normal size in a week, and the rest of her houseplants quickly followed suit. After that, it was the potted plants in the shop. Soon, rosebuds were blooming at her touch. Something very strange had happened to her, and it all had something to do with that plant. She was afraid at first, but that passed quickly. All of her powers seemed good, seemed helpful, and they let her do what she loved better than she ever had before. She started small, learning to control the growth of plants around her, making sick ones healthier, growing seedlings into mature plants with a thought. It was cool.

As Stesha's control grew, so did her boldness in experimenting. She began to try more things, more heroic things, and found she could do a lot more than she'd thought. When she concentrated hard enough, she could sort of become one with the plants, seeing through their flowers and leaves, even traveling along their vines and coming out somewhere entirely different. (The first time she did that, she nearly wet her pants, but the fear soon passed.) She could even make first dirt, then ceramic pots full of dirt, in which to place her plants. One memorable day, she even managed to snake out a vine and trip a purse-snatcher in Grant Park, sending him flying and letting the victim reclaim her belongings. She was like a superhero! She found that she needed to eat and sleep less, and that just laying in the sun made her feel totally refreshed in ways it never had before.

It wasn't entirely without its drawbacks. One morning after an especially exciting evening of practice, Stesha woke up to find her hair had gone entirely green. Since that wasn't something she could hide, she decided to flaunt it, curling it up in a bun and sticking a wreath of flowers on it. Amy was a little skeptical, but the customers thought it was adorable, so she didn't give her any trouble. Stesha hadn't figured out a way to tell Amy about any of this. It just seemed so unbelievable. As she mastered her powers, though, the florist business began to seem very small. She still loved it, but she felt like she could do more. She wasn't up to the standards of, say, the Freedom League, but she could be a small superhero, she was certain.

Moving out of Chicago was a real leap of faith. Amy was sorry to lose her, but she gave her a great recommendation that landed her a job in downtown Freedom City at another exclusive boutique shop. Stesha took some time to settle in and get the hang of her job and her neighborhood before she tried anything else. After a few months, though, she knew she was ready. Stesha thought about donning a domino mask, but in a city full of costumes, it seemed like it might be asking for trouble. She came up with a name for herself, Fleur de Joie, after the plant that had made her and the idea she had in mind, and set out to make the world a more beautiful place.

Personality & Motivation: Happy and optimistic, Stesha firmly believes that beauty makes the world a better place, and there's no better way to express that than through green plants and flowers. She wants to spread happiness to people first and foremost, by brightening the world in which they live. And if occasionally she manages to foil a bad guy, well, that just makes her feel even more super!

Powers & Tactics: Most nights, Stesha contents herself with scattering flowers in parks, healing peoples' sick windowboxes and gardens, and putting the occasional pot of flowers on someone's doorstep. If she gets in a fight, though, she can call the plants to her defense, using them to trip, snare, and incapacitate the bad guys, hopefully before they can hurt her. She has nascent earth control powers along with her plant control, but she hasn't explored them to anywhere near the extent she has with the plants. Right now, all she can do is create flowerpots, but that may change in the future

Complications:

Compassion: Stesha will safeguard all lives, even those of villains, whenever possible.

Day Job: Stesha works 9-5 and weekends as a florist's assistant at an exclusive boutique. They do not know about her extracurriculars, and would not be happy if they did. She cant' afford to lose her job.

Interfering Family: Stesha has a big extended family, mom, dad, four siblings, grandparents, and many, many aunts, uncles and cousins. They sometimes come visit this neck of the woods, and they do not know about Stesha's double life.

Responsibility: Helping her new friends Divine, Dark Star and Phantom if they ask

Phobia: Jack Faretti. Whenever he's anywhere she is, she wants to leave immediately. This raises problems in "ally of my ally" situations.

Abilities (2+0+10+2+2+2=18pp)

Str: 12 (+1)

Dex: 10 (+0)

Con: 20 (+5)

Int: 12 (+1)

Wis: 12 (+1)

Cha: 12 (+1)

Combat: (8+8=16 pp)

Attack +4

Grapple +5

Defense +4 (+2 flat footed)

Knockback -4

Initiative +0

Saves (1+3+3=7 pp)

Toughness +10 (+5 Con, +5 Protection)

Fortitude +6 (+5 Con, +1)

Reflex +3 (+0 Dex, +3)

Will +4 (+1 Wis, +3)

Skills: 56r = 14pp

Bluff 8 (+8/+12)

Knowledge (Life Sciences) 8 (+9)

Notice 12 (+13)

Profession (florist) 8 (+10)

Search 4 (+5)

Sense Motive 8 (+9)

Stealth 8 (+8)

Feats: (3 pp)

Attractive (cute)

Luck

Skill Mastery (Knowledge: Life Sciences, Notice, Profession: Florist, Stealth)

Powers: 2+0+2+5+6+3+5+31 = 54 pp

Feature 2 (Can instantly differentiate between types of seeds; Can shape earth into pots filled with fresh soil) [2pp]

Feature 1 (Can breathe C02) [0pp]

Immunity 3 (need for sleep, food, water, Suffocation in C02 Environment (usable by others)) [2pp]

Protection 5 [5 pp]

Regeneration 10 (+4 recovery bonus, bruised/unconscious 1/round, injured/staggered 1/20 minutes, disabled 1/hour; Power Feats: Regrowth; Flaws: Source [sunlight]) [6 pp]

Earth Control 1 (PF: Subtle) [3pp]

Immortality (Immunity to poison, disease and aging; True Resurrection 1/day) [5pp]

Snare 10 (entangling vines; PFs: Indirect 2, Alternate Power 9) [31pp]

AP: Corrosion 6 (Extra: Duration/Sustained; Flaw: Limited/Plant Material; PF: Incurable, Precise)

AP: Dimensional Pocket 2 (Extras: Duration 3/Continuous, Range/Ranged; PFs: Progression 9 [50,000lbs])

AP: ESP 4 (one mile, sight and hearing; Extras: Action/free action, No Conduit, Simultaneous; Flaw: Medium/Plants)

AP: Growth 10 (Extra: Affects Others; Flaw: Limited/Plants)

AP: Healing 10 (Extras: Area/Burst, Total; Flaw: Plants only (-2); PFs: Regrowth, Stabilize)

AP: Healing 10 (Extras: Persistent, Action/Standard, Total; Flaws: Distracting, Unreliable/5 uses)

AP: Move Object 8 (effective Str 40; PFs: Precise, Indirect 3, Accurate)

AP: Stun 10 (pollen burst; Extras: Range/Ranged, Sleep; Flaw: Action/Full)

AP: Teleport 8 (800 feet/2,000 miles; Extra: Accurate; Flaw: Medium/Plants; PFs: Progression 4 [2,500 lbs])

Drawbacks: 2pp

Power Loss, uncommon, minor: (-1pp)

Having her hair cut to a length of less than six average inches (shave head, chop off braid, stylish summer cut) will remove her ability to photosynthesize (immunity to starvation and thirst, immunity to sleep) and regenerate until it regrows. Regrowing to useful length takes 72 hours, including 24 total hours of sleep if hair is partially removed, or 168 hours with 56 hours of sleep if totally shaved. Without sufficient rest, growth will be delayed.

Weakness, uncommon, minor: (-1pp)

The last six inches of Stesha's hair are dead and inactive cells, like normal hair, and can be trimmed normally. The rest of her hair is much more alive than normal hair, and hurts if it is damaged. Cutting or burning her hair invokes toughness saves as though her body had been attacked.

DC Block:

Type -- DC -- Effect

Unarmed --- DC 17/Toughness --- Bruised

Corrosion -- DC 16/Fort, then 21/Toughness -- Toughness Drain, then Damage

Snare --- DC 20/Ref --- Snared

Stun --- DC 20/Fort --- Dazed/Stunned

Costs: Abilities (18) + Combat (16) + Saves (7) + Skills (14) + Feats (3) + Powers (54) - Drawbacks (02) = Total Cost 110/110

Sandman XI · June 2, 2009

Audit done in chat Approved

Ecalsneerg · June 4, 2009

Fixed in chat. Stamp'd

Electra · October 28, 2009

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Players Name: Electra

Power Level: 15 (210/250PP) [274]

Trade-Offs: -5 Attack / +5 Damage

Unspent PP: 40

Progress to Orichalcum+ Status: 169/210 (20 earned pre-bump, 149 earned post-bump; Orichalcum Status earned by Wander)

Characters Name: Stesha Madison

Alternate Identity: Fleur de Joie

Height: 5'3:

Weight: Curvy, just leaning towards Heavy

Hair: Green

Eyes: Blue

Description: Stesha is an engaging and friendly-looking young woman, small in stature with a curvy body and five pounds she keeps meaning to take off with extra exercise. She smiles most of the time, and always smells like flowers. Her most striking feature is probably her curly green hair, which she usually keeps pinned back and decorated with seasonal flowers. Overall, she's not much of a hero archetype, but she's pretty darn cute.

History: From the time she was a little girl, Stesha Madison loved plants. At a very early age, she put away her tea set and equipped her dolls and bears with little rakes and shovels so they could help her in the garden. It helped that she grew up in a family that was very big on gardening. Dad taught botany at the university, and Mom was a complementary medicine practitioner and midwife who grew most of her own remedies. Mom always that they met on the opposite sides of a campus protest in the sixties. It was true that they argued a lot, but in the way of people who liked to argue. Stesha's older brothers and sisters liked to argue as well, and so did she, up to a point. But mostly she liked to garden. There was always something that needed to be done, and every day brought new growth and new beauty to look at.