Carbon_Copy Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 Characters Name: Cicada-Man Power Level: 10 (150/150PP) Trade-Offs: -5 Defense / +5 Toughness Unspent PP: 0 Gold Status: 0/30 Alternate Identity: Carlan Moore Age: 32 (born August 1978; Appears to be early 30’s) Gender: Male Height: 5’2†Weight: 130 lbs Eyes: Green Hair: Red-Orange In Brief: A good natured and straightforward man. The only thing that can really drive him to anger or true rage is true tyrannical behavior. Description: History: Carlan Moore grew up loving music in his home town of Chicago. By the age of 13 he had already learned to play the saxophone, drums, violin, and cello. While he liked playing these instruments his true calling was to vocals. Carlan loved to sing. Problem was he sucked at it. Carlan was absolutely terrible at singing unable to sing a single note in tune for his life. But that was only until he was 15 when his powers manifested. During his 15th year of life, Carlan Moore began to notice things about himself that had changed since the year before. His skin was flakey, his continually felt tremendous pain in his sides, and his back had one of the worst cases of acne his local doctor had ever seen. But this dark, dark cloud had one extremely thin silver lining; Carlan’s voice became golden and pure. He was able to hit notes that nobody in Chicago thought of reaching and his tone was beautiful and entrancing. He also found out that he is a mutant. The voice, the sides, the backne, the flakey skin, all of it was a simple manifestation of his genetic code asserting it’s dominance over every other function in Carlan’s body. He had his first molt on the 16th of June in the year of 1994. At that time he was covered in thick chitinus plating, grew antennae, compound eyes, a set of wings and an extra pair of arms. Needless to say Carlan was freaked out. His parents were likewise freaked out. They couldn’t believe that this monster was their little boy! The awful noise it was making wasn’t helping them to believe a word of what it might have been saying… mostly due to their inability to hear anything it might have been saying to them. Carlan fled his home. His body eventually reverted back to his normal form. He also eventually learned how to control the transformation and the screeching noise it was able to make. The powers that he had gained had to be used for something, Carlan knew that. He just didn’t know what. The obvious answer was become a super hero. It’s what people did when they had super powers. There really wasn’t much of a choice in Carlan’s mind. So he began to live a double life, one as the ordinary guy Carlan Moore; aspiring musician and singer. The other was the super hero Cicada-Man; defender of the weak and crusher of the tyrannical. By 2010 Carlan had grown into a semi-successful vocalist and bass player for his metal band, Substantially Hollow. The band has been relatively underground, but highly successful, until one of their concerts was attended by one of the scouts for Vibration a Freedom City recording agency. His band was approached and, after a brief talk about their direction and future prospects, signed on as a new band for the company. This has caused Carlan to move from his home town in Illinois to Freedom City. He then set about making a new name for himself as Cicada-Man in the super-heavy city. Personality & Motivation: Carlan Moore is a pretty upstanding guy. He likes his fans and has come to believe that there is a lot of good in most people because of them. He figures that if a group of people so “violent and angry†as metal-heads can all get along and have a good time in relative peace (in the vaguest sense of the word) then what’s to stop most “normal†people from doing the same? He’s not so diluted by optimism as to think that there are no bad people, past experience has taught him that that is simply not the case. However he needs to see a lot of bad come out of a person before he will qualify that person as a “bad peopleâ€. His general optimism shows through in his personality as he is usually jovial and good natured. He’s not exactly a humorous person though; he’s just a “nice guyâ€. Carlan was mostly, but not completely, driven to a sub-life of crime fighting because of his desire to protect the many and the weak from the few and the powerful (not necessarily having to qualify as both conditions). Tyranny and Dictatorship are a few of the things that Carlan has the least tolerance for and he will do everything in his power to eliminate the condition beset on others. Powers & Tactics: When describing his fighting tactics as a super hero, one would definitely exclude the words ‘subtle,’ ‘finesse,’ and ‘tactical.’ Cicada-Man really doesn’t see a lot of difference between a super hero brawl and a mosh pit. As such, he tends to take huge sweeping blows and takes unnecessary risks when in combat. The way he sees it, if he’s not exhausted by the end of a fight, he hasn’t been doing it right. General Game Plan: Fly in, begin making noise to disorient and irritate the enemy, start punching, do not stop punching until enemy is on the ground or Carlan is. Complications: Hatred: Cicada-Man/Carlan has a hatred for tyranny. In fact he will go to extreme lengths to right this “deplorable wrongâ€. Carlan/Cicada-Man has brutally beaten those who he sees committing tyranny, and he has a very negative reputation for doing so. However, Carlan requires definitive proof of the tyrannical behavior, otherwise his naivety takes precedence. Naïve: Cicada-Man is naïve in his beliefs and trust in the goodness of people. If an appeal is made to him by a person he is in conflict with appealing to this sense of “goodness in peopleâ€, he is will almost always give them the benefit of the doubt and take their word as truth. Secret: Identity. Abilities: 2 + 2 + 8 + 0 + 2 + 0 = 14PP Strength: 20/12 (+5/+1) Dexterity: 12 (+1) Constitution: 18 (+4) Intelligence: 10 (+0) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 10 (+0) Combat: 20 + 8 = 28PP Initiative: +1 Attack: +10 Grapple: +19/+11, +21 Additional Limbs Defense: +5 (+4 Base, +1 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed Knockback: -7/-2 Saving Throws: 6 + 0 + 7 = 13PP Toughness: +15/+4 (+4 Con, +11 other) Fortitude: +10 (+4 Con, +6) Reflex: +1 (+1 Dex, +0) Will: +8 (+1 Wis, +7) Skills: 64R = 16PP Bluff 10 (+10) Gather Information 5 (+5) Intimidate 15 (+15) Notice 9 (+10) Perform (Singing) 10 (+10) Perform (Stringed Instruments) 6 (+6) Sense Motive 9 (+10) Feats: 8PP All-Out Attack Dodge Focus Fascinate (Perform [singing]) Luck Power Attack Skill Mastery (Bluff, Intimidate, Notice, Sense Motive) Startle Takedown Attack Powers: 2 + 8 + 1 + 5 + 11 + 33 + 2 + 5 + 8 = 75PP Additional Limbs 2 (+2 Arms) [2PP] (Mutant) Enhanced Strength 8 [8PP] (Mutant, Physical) Features 1 (Rockstar Lighting: Dynamic lighting will fall on Cicada-Man whenever the opportunity arises; +2 circumstance bonus to impress people [subject to GM approval during play]) [1PP] Flight 3 (50mph / 500ft per Move Action, Drawbacks: Power Loss [Wings]) [5PP] (Insect Wings, Mutant) Protection 11 [11PP] (Chitin Skin, Mutant) Sonic Control 15.5 (31PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power 2) [33PP] Base Power: Dazzle 10 (Audio Senses, Feats: Progression [Area] 1 [100ft radius], Extras: Area [General, Burst, Attached], Duration 2 [sustained], Flaws: Range [Touch]) [31PP] (Cicada Song, Mutant, Sonic)Alternate Power: Damage 10 (Extras: Penetrating, Range (Ranged)) [30PP] (Cicada Screech)Alternate Power: Stun 10 (Feats: Progression [Area] 1 [100ft radius], Extras: Area [General, Burst]) [31PP] (Cicada Discord) Super Movement 1 (Wall-Crawling 1) (Insect Feet, Mutant) [2PP] Super Senses 5 (Sonar [ultrasonic Hearing, Extras: Accurate 2], Time Sense, Uncanny Dodge [Audio]) [5PP] (Insect Senses, Mutant) Super-Strength 4 (Lifting STR 40, Heavy Load = 3 tons) [8PP] (Mutant, Physical) Drawbacks: -4PP Normal Identity (Full Action, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Major) [-4PP] DC Block: Damage --- 25/Toughness --- Bruised (Staged) Dazzle --- 20/Reflex (1/2)/Reflex/Fortitude --- Deafened Stun --- 20/Reflex (1/2)/Fortitude --- Dazed Unarmed --- 20/Toughness --- Bruised (Staged) Abilities (14) + Combat (28) + Saving Throws (13) + Skills (16) + Feats (8) + Powers (75) - Drawbacks (4) = 150/150 Power Points
N/A Posted July 16, 2010 Posted July 16, 2010 A few notes: First of all, he's overbudget. Some of the power costs were wrong - a couple were too expensive, a couple more weren't expensive enough. I corrected all the math, but he's a few points over. Just to make sure you're aware, the Affects Insubstantial feat has 2 ranks. At rank 1 (what you have), the power has half effect against insubstantial targets. You need 2 ranks for it to have full effect. The Sustained/Lasting Dazzle will work fine - Sustained/Lasting powers don't actually require any maintenance from you. They just have a longer save interval. But that Concentration/Lasting Stun could be a problem for you. Concentration/Lasting powers have the longer save interval, but if you don't take a standard action to maintain them, they revert to Instant/Lasting (so the save interval jumps up to once per round). So unless he burns his actions to maintain it, he'll have paid for the duration extra but gotten nothing out of it. And thematically speaking, how would you even describe him exerting effort to maintain the victims' deafness? I'm concerned that he doesn't really have any non-Area attacks. How is he going to fight supervillains without wrecking the entire street and harming innocent bystanders? He can use unarmed attacks, but with +10 Attack and +5 STR, he's hitting like a PL7.5. The fluff looks fine.
Carbon_Copy Posted July 16, 2010 Author Posted July 16, 2010 I'll fix the cost issues later on today (I'll probably drop a skills down and lose a feat or two) Affects Insubstantial only being at half effective is fine, it's just sound afterall and even if I tongue-wag-science to say I can hit an insubstantial target, I think that "full effectiveness" might be a bit excessive. The way I'm justifying the concentration duration on the stun is because I see it as being a bit more strenuous than the dazzle. It's not hard to make a noise so loud that you can't hear anything else, some dude with a loud soundsystem can do that. However, the concentration power is a stun effect isn't making them deaf, it's debilitating their ability to move and act because the sound is so awful and loud. It only makes sense that it would be harder to maintain. ---However as I write this down it occurs to me that since I'm spending a standard action to do the effect for more than one turn I could just drop down the duration and it would basically be like just using the power each turn... I'll probably do that just for the sake of making it less problematic. I'll discuss his attacks in chat, since that's just easier. The fluff: cool
Dr Archeville Posted July 16, 2010 Posted July 16, 2010 I'll discuss his attacks in chat, since that's just easier. Someone (either you or the judging Ref) please be sure to copy & paste those Chat discussions into this thread. Chat logs are much more fleeting than char sheets.
Carbon_Copy Posted July 17, 2010 Author Posted July 17, 2010 The following were changed in accordance with Shaen's comments and my own thoughts on Cicada's build: Skills: [*:3ft4e6zv]Dropped Concentration since Cicada-Man no longer has any powers involving concentration. [*:3ft4e6zv]Added 1 rank to Profession (stringed instrument) to round out the ranks to require a flat 16pp Feats: [*:3ft4e6zv]Dropped Improved Initiative (cost reasons)Powers:[*:3ft4e6zv]Made the Area Damage power a straight Ranged Damage power [*:3ft4e6zv]Changed the duration on the Stun power so that it is no longer sustained Now he only costs 150pp (legal) and no longer has the problematic sustained duration stun power. Also, his damaging powers aren't all wrapped up in area and unarmed combat. Look better now Shaen?
Avenger Assembled Posted July 17, 2010 Posted July 17, 2010 Any reason why he has such a high base attack?
Carbon_Copy Posted July 18, 2010 Author Posted July 18, 2010 As discussed in Chat: (19:42:42) Carbon_Copy: AA> what do you mean "Such a high base attack"? (19:43:01) Carbon_Copy: it's capped for his level and he's been a crime fighter for 15 years? [fluff reason] (19:43:38) ShaenTheBrain[AFK]: As opposed to specializing. (19:43:53) AvengerAssembled: Right. (19:44:03) Carbon_Copy: well, he does ranged and melee attacks (19:44:06) AvengerAssembled: It's not a _bad_ thing, I was just curious if you had a reason. (19:44:24) Carbon_Copy: I had the points and he doesn't speciallize one way or the other [mechanical reason] I think that's the basics of what the Ref's said and what I had to say about it.
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