My PL 10- Requiring Creative Assistance

[Lone Star]

To begin, I am quite indecisive. I had two idea for my PL 10. I just need help coming up with powers and picking one of these.

Idea Numero Uno- Brother Coyote. He's a trickster mystic whose power, he claims, comes from the Native American trickster god Coyote. Lots of Bluff and numerous trick powers with the magic descriptor.

Idea Numero Dos- Technomage. A pretty basic technomage who can channel electricity through wires and computers and animate various forms of technology. What other powers would be practical for a technomage?

[Dr Archeville]

I like the Trickster, in part b/c we already sorta have a technomage (Quark).

But it's not as if comics limit themselves to just one example of any given archetype

Babylon 5 (and the spin off Crusade) had technomages, you could look to them for examples.

[Lone Star]

He could be a technopath instead. That would be equally cool. Would that work?

[angrydurf]

Well we also have a few variations on the trickster theme too. Like Madcap and Jester.

In the end don't worry about what other people are playing it changes often enough that you don't really need to. Either concept works pretty well I think. Best advice I can give is make what seems interesting to you and make sure to give them a good reason to be active. Reactive heroes who tend to be harder to get involved with things.

[Ecalsneerg]

Also, as Shaen has said before, the number one mistake people tend to make is thinking this is a "people with powers" game, rather than "Superheroes fight crime and save the world."

[N/A]

A "technopath" could have all sorts of powers, depending on whether she interacts with data and/or machines on a physical level or not, and whether or not she's capable of transforming herself on a physical level.

• [*:5hp99jaz]Communication (Radio)
  [*:5hp99jaz]Datalink
  [*:5hp99jaz]Comprehend (Codes, Electronics, Languages)
  [*:5hp99jaz]Concealment 10 (All Senses, Flaws: Limited [Machines])
  [*:5hp99jaz]ESP (Flaws: Medium)
  [*:5hp99jaz]Healing (Extras: Affects Objects, Flaws: Limited [Objects])
  [*:5hp99jaz]Insubstantial 3 (Electricity) or 4 ("Pure Data")
  [*:5hp99jaz]Nullify - Electronics, Machines, etc.
  [*:5hp99jaz]Obscure (Radio Senses)
  [*:5hp99jaz]Quickness (Flaws: Limited [Mental Tasks]) - "thinks like a computer"
  [*:5hp99jaz]Summon: Specifically the "Animate Objects" version
  [*:5hp99jaz]Super-Senses (Postcognition)
  [*:5hp99jaz]Super-Senses (Radio, possibly with Accurate to function as Radar)
  [*:5hp99jaz]Teleport (Flaws: Medium) - Power lines, data transmission, etc.
  [*:5hp99jaz]Transform

For non-power traits, I'd look to things like a high Intelligence, high ranks in tech-related skills (Computers, Craft, Disable Device, Drive, Knowledge, Pilot, etc.), and feats like Eidetic Memory, Improved Initiative, Speed of Thought ("thinks like a computer" again), Improvised Tools, and Inventor. If you do wind up with a bunch of tech-skills, they benefit more than any others from feats like Second Chance, Skill Mastery, and Ultimate Effort.

You don't have to make a "technopath" character a Gadgeteer archetype, but there is a lot of synergy in that combination.

A character with tech-themed powers might also have control over Electricity or Magnetism (or both). Ultimate Power has a list of suggestions for both. And the Roll Call forum at the Atomic Think Tank has dozens of builds for characters like Black Lightning, Lightning Lad & Lass, Polaris, and especially Magneto.

• [*:5hp99jaz]Absorption
  [*:5hp99jaz]Confuse
  [*:5hp99jaz]Damage (possibly Ranged, Area, Aura, and/or Alternate Save [Fortitude])
  [*:5hp99jaz]Deflect - either Deflect (Fast Projectiles + Slow Projectiles, Flaws: Limited [Metal]), or Deflect (All, Drawbacks: Power Loss [Metal]) if you use a metal object as a "shield"
  [*:5hp99jaz]"EMP" - most people either use Nullify, or Corrosion/Disintegrate (Damage linked to Drain Toughness), Limited to Electronics
  [*:5hp99jaz]Environment Control (Distract)
  [*:5hp99jaz]Flight
  [*:5hp99jaz]Immunity 5 (Electricity Damage) or 10 (Electricity Effects)
  [*:5hp99jaz]Immunity 2 (Magnetism Damage) or 5 (Magnetism Effects)
  [*:5hp99jaz]Move Object (Flaws: Limited [Metal])
  [*:5hp99jaz]Snare
  [*:5hp99jaz]Stun
  [*:5hp99jaz]Summon - again, the Animate Objects version
  [*:5hp99jaz]Super-Movement (Permeate, Wall-Crawling, Limited [Metal])
  [*:5hp99jaz]Super-Senses (Detect and/or Awareness for Electricity, Magnetism, and/or Metal, Direction Sense)
  [*:5hp99jaz]Transform ("Shape Metal")

If you want to really stretch it, you might be able to justify powers like Nauseate and even Mind Control by saying you "manipulate the trace metals in my foe's blood." (Yes, the X-Men writers really are that shameless.)

Once you throw "magic" into the mix, the possibilities are endless. "Magic" and "Technology" are pretty much the two most open-ended descriptors in the game, and a "technomage" combines them both. To avoid becoming overwhelmed, you would probably want to focus on a particular "style" of magic. Does he cast Hermetic "spells?" Inscribe magic runes on electronic devices to boost and diversify their abilities? Replace parts of his own body with "magical" cybernetic implants? Is he limited to magic that deals specifically with electronics/machines/electricity/metal/data/whatever, or are they just the medium through which he imposes his will on the outside world?