The Blur - PL 10

[piercetbh]

Player Name: piercetbh
Character Name: The Blur
Power Level: 10 (150/150PP)
Trade-Offs: -2 Toughness/+2 Defence, -2 Damage/+2 Attack
Unspent Power Points: 0
Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30

In Brief: Born with mutant powers that let him run, fight, and even think extremely fast.

Alternate Identity: Marko Miles
Identity: Secret
Birthplace: Freedom City
Occupation: Engineering Student at the Hanover Institute of Technology, Casual Worker at Stan’s Super Heroes
Affiliations: Fellow Students and Professor Jet at HIT, Staff at Stan’s Super Heroes
Family: Richard Miles (Father), Mary Miles (Mother)

Description:
Age: 20 (DoB: 1993, 5^th of March)
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Height: 5’10â€
Weight:168 lbs.
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Brown

Marko’s powers do not directly provide him with enhanced strength, but he can use them to exercise and do strength training at extremely fast speeds. Because of this, he has become incredibly strong; not superhuman, by any means, but physically he is very capable. This strength has given him a body fitting for a superhero, which shows even when he isn’t wearing his costume. As either The Blur or himself, Marko is usually smiling and almost always has incredibly messy hair. He tries to style it, he swears, but it goes wild every time he runs.

 

Power Descriptions:
 

When Marko uses his speed to run or attack, ‘The Blur’ is often an understatement. He can be completely unseen if he runs fast enough, allowing him to occasionally risk traversing the city with no mask and not be discovered. When using Quickness at a fast enough rate he sometimes experiences a similar effect, causing humorous sights such as a room that seems to clean itself as he dashes about, putting everything back in order.

 

 

History:
 

Miles’ birth was a quick one, and it was not long afterwards that his parents began to suspect something was different about him. In primary school he was faster than the other children, and in middle school he could outrun them on their bikes. On graduation night, he matched pace with a friend’s car. Everyone knew he was fast, and they thought he was a genius, too. Even the trickiest math is easy when you can think it over for a few minutes in the space of a second.

 

Marko spent most of this school time knowing he was super, as he was told by his parents at eight years old that he had powers, and it was clear why. His father Richard had never told him, but in a freak accident decades ago he had been struck by a bolt of lightning; Marko’s dad had survived with seemingly no effect, until whatever had happened to him manifested in Marko at birth. He was pressured to remain discreet. He was already the ‘fast kid’, he just had to make sure he didn’t become the ‘light-speed kid’. The Speedster obliged, not having a problem with just being the fastest-running, quickest-thinking kid in his school in addition to being able to throw a pretty solid punch.

 

After his education Marko got his own apartment and his parents moved away, leaving him on his own in Freedom City. He eventually decided to get into Engineering, one of his favourite subjects in high school. One year into this course he has found that his quick mind has let him thrive, though he still gets stuck frequently.

 

Not wanting his powers to go to and waste and with no parents to stop him anymore, Marko was ready to suit up and fight crime within a month of starting his course and getting a part time job. He’d been planning on becoming a hero since high school, and now was the time to do it. He has been out in the field ever since, squeezing as much super-powered action in as he can between college and work.

 

Personality & Motivation:
 

When he is excited Marko can begin to talk very fast, and must be reminded to slow down by his friends. In fact, he is too fast for anything. He hates chess even though he’s extremely good at it. He so far has not been able to sit in a car for long enough to make any significant progress towards getting his driver’s license.

 

As The Blur, the speedster does what he does for fun. Nothing is cooler to him than running across the city in a moment, dodging bullets, and put criminals behind bars on a daily basis. He also loves to meet other super-powered individuals, who are acting all over Freedom City. It’s nice for Marko to have other Superheroes to relate too, and it is also nice to have Supervillains who can challenge him.

 

Powers & Tactics:
 

The Blur is very, very fast. In combat he dashes about the area, too headstrong to hide yet not foolish enough to stand right in front of his much stronger enemies. He is strong, but not as strong as someone who possesses a superhuman level of strength. To them he is respectable but not comparable, and thus while a ‘greater’ foe can simply flail around swinging punches in combat, The Blur must keep on his toes. Snatching an armed foe’s weapon away, fooling a stupider enemy into leaving an opening in their defence, or straight-up running in to someone to knock them off their feet are all examples of strategies he may use when he doesn’t have the advantage in a simple punch-up.

 

When even getting close for a short period is too dangerous, Marko can throw his punches at such a speed that he blasts foes with air from a small distance away; this is yet another backup tactic of his.

 

Complications:.

Responsibility: Engineering is tough even if you can study at breakneck speeds. Marko has to attend his engineering lectures at HIT or Professor Jet will chew him out, and he’ll risk falling behind the class. Occasionally, he may be told to invent some sort of project or sit an exam.

Responsibility: Marko has to pay for college somehow. In addition to lectures he must frequently work shifts a week at the local Stan’s Super Heroes. If he fails to attend he could get fired and get himself into even worse financial strife.

Secret: Marko certainly doesn’t mind getting attention, but he definitely doesn’t want to be a world-famous superhero with paparazzi knocking down his door every day. His identity is hidden and he will go out of his way to keep it that way.

Temper: Marko hates dealing with slower or more patient people, as for him even something complicated like designing an invention or planning for a battle should only take a few seconds. Often he can run off on a whim, unable to wait a long time for something to happen.

Wealth: College is expensive, superhero suits are expensive, and part-time jobs for young adults pay low. Marko has the Struggling wealth condition and lives in a small apartment that he can barely pay for.

 

Abilities: 8 + 0 + 8 + 2 + 0 + 0 = 18PP
Strength: 18 (+4)
Dexterity: 10/20 (+0/+5)
Constitution: 18 (+4)
Intelligence: 12 (+1)
Wisdom: 10 (+0)
Charisma: 10 (+0)

 

Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP
Initiative: +13
Attack: +6 Melee, +6 Ranged
Grapple: +10
Defence: +12 (+6 Base, +6 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed
Knockback: -4


Saving Throws: 0 + 3 + 4 + 7 = 14PP
Toughness: +8 (+4 Con, +4 [Defensive Roll 2])
Fortitude: +7 (+4 Con, +3)
Reflex: +9 (+5 Dex, +4)
Will: +7 (+0 Wis, +7)


Skills: 56R = 14PP
[Acrobatics] 10 (+15)

[Craft: Electronic] 9 (+10)

[Craft: Mechanical] 9 (+10)

[Disable Device] 9 (+10)

[Knowledge: Technology] 9 (+10)

[Notice] 5 (+5)

[sense Motive] 5 (+5)

 

Feats: 18PP

Acrobatic Bluff

Defensive Roll 2

Dodge Focus 6

Evasion

Fast Overrun

Improved Disarm

Improved Initiative 2

Improved Overrun

Inventor

Luck

Move-By Action

 

 

Powers: 13 + 10 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 22 + 10 = 62PP

 

Speed 13 (100,000 MPH) [13PP]

 

Quickness 10 (x2,500 Speed) [10PP]

 

Regeneration 3 (Recovery Rate Bruises 3) [3PP]

 

Super-Movement 3 (Wall-Crawling 2, Water Walking, Flaws: Limited to while Moving) [3PP]

 

Leaping 2 (Momentum-Boosted Jump; Flaws: Limited to Running Jumps (Long or High)) [1PP]

 

Super-Fast Attack (Bludgeoning, Mutant; 20PP Array; Feats: Alternate Power 2 [22PP]

Base Power: Strike 4 (multi-target attack flurry, Bludgeoning, Mutant; Extras: Targeted Shapeable Area, Feats: Mighty, Progression 4, Accurate 3) {20/20}

Alternate Power: Strike 4 (single-target attack flurry, Bludgeoning, Mutant; Extras: Autofire; Feats: Accurate 3, Mighty) {16/20}
Alternate Power: Blast 8 (Air Blasts, Mutant, Air, Bludgeoning; Feats: Accurate 3, Precise) {20/20}

 

Enhanced Dexterity 10 [10PP]

 

Drawbacks: (-0) + (-0) = -0PP

DC Block

 

ATTACK      RANGE                 SAVE                          EFFECT

Strike +12    500 Square Area  DC23 Toughness        Damage (Physical)

Strike +12    Touch                   DC23 Toughness        Damage (Physical) (Autofire)

Blast +12     Ranged                 DC23 Toughness        Damage (Air)

 

Totals: Abilities (18) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (14) + Skills (14) + Feats (18) + Powers (62) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points

Edited February 15, 2014 by piercetbh

[Raveled]

Why does he have Enhanced Int, exactly? His power is running really fast, I dont't see how that translates to super-smarts.

[piercetbh]

Quickness gives the illusion of him being incredibly smart. Say for example you come across a mathematical problem so gruelling that it somehow takes you an hour to work out. For Blur, the same problem can be solved in under a second. In another example, if he were to study all day for a week, that's 420,000 hours of learning. The knowledge gained from this would be like experiencing 95 years of studying for 12 hours a day, every single day. That's enough time to learn everything he'd need to know to get through his Engineering Course, I imagine, which is why he's classified as having 'super-smarts.' The intelligence makes him great at knowledge checks, because he should be; he could consume an entire library if he wanted. 

 

If people think it makes no sense then I'll turn it into skill points or something, though.

[Thevshi]

Okay pierce, sorry for the delay, but here are a few more comments.

First, I am not sure what happened, but the font got really small. Please get it back to a more normal size please (that has happened to me before as well).

I see his stats are pretty much back to the baseline. There is no rule that you have to improve stats, it just seems odd to have a character with almost everything so close to the average bystander.

On your speed, please put the Wall Running and Water Running separately as Super Movement, which is what they are, not feats. Also you need to note that they are limited to only while running, unless you want to pay the full cost.

For the Enhanced Feats linked to the Strike power, it might be cleaner to make those just the Accurate feat, but it does not really mater I suppose as they amount to the same thing.

However, I still sort of question how you have limited your array to start. Certainly you can stunt alt powers, but with only two hero points to start out, you could quickly find yourself having to take levels of fatigue or be without a hero point when you really need one (such as when someone manages to land a hit and you get a really bad toughness save).

Along those lines, the strike as you have built it does not get much benefit from the Autofire extra. Per the rules, you can get a bonus +1 to the damage for every 2 points you beat the target’s defense by, up to +5 OR half the base bonus of the attack, whichever is LESS. So the most you will be able to add to the strike from Autofire is +2.

Also, having the only attack you have access to without stunting being a selective area attack means you are wasting points when you are faced with only one target.

[piercetbh]

Okay, I just made several changes, including a large move along the trade-off scale. I've fixed as much as I can:

 

Small Text:

Yeah, that's fixed. I think it happened because I edited the post from my phone.

 

Mediocre Stats:

18 Strength, 20 Dexterity, 18 Constitution, 12 Intelligence. Hopefully that should be acceptable.

 

Super-Movement:

Done.

 

Attack Specialization versus Accurate:

My attack bonus is coming entirely from Attack Bonus/Attack Focus now, so this has become irrelevant.

 

Limited Array:

Not really sure what the problem is, here? A higher toughness save should save me from needing to use a Hero Point every time I'm hit, so I imagine I'll be able to stunt with some freedom.

 

Autofire:

I removed the extra for now, though I'll probably put it back when my damage is 10+.

 

Expensive Attack, Wasted Points:

Well, I can attack a single person without Strike now, only losing a bit of damage. I guess that solves the issue?

[Thevshi]

Pierce,

 

I apologize that I was not a bit clearer in my last comments, most of that was suggestions, not something you had to change.  (the only thing that needed to be changed was listing the Super Movement seperate).

 

So, on the new version, here are a few more suggestions/thoughts (feel free to disregard if you wish):

 

1) Yes, how you have structured your STR, Melee Attack bonus and Strike power now allows you to focus on a single target, but sacrificing +4 damage (the strike power).  It might be more effective to structure the Strike as an array, with one slot for a single attack that does more damage, and a alt that is the area attack.  You could place the Attack Focus: Melee 6 into that array as Accurate 3 (same +6 to hit) so that both powers get the benefit, and if you later added an alternate slot for a range attack, that could also get the benefit of the Accurate 3.  This is totally up to you, just another way to structure things.  If you are happy as it is right now, keep it, you can always restructure later if you choose to.

 

2) The Leaping power: it certainly makes sense that as fast as the Blur is, his leaps could be much greater than normal.  But 10 ranks seems to me like that might be a bit excessive (again, this is a personal view, and not anything you need to follow).  10 ranks makes his jumps 2,500 times greater than normal, that is a running long jump of 35,000 feet (close to 7 miles) and a high jump of 7,500 feet (well over a mile).  Now, I know comic book physics can be quite forgiving, but why would the Blur be able to handle the landing from such a long distance and considerable momentum of such a jump?  Another thing to consider, if you were to try to use the full leaping distance (either long or high) it takes a full 6 rounds for you to land. 

[piercetbh]

Yeah, I know those were suggestions, but most of them made sense to me so I figured I'd make a handful of edits.

 

Turning Attack Focus into Accurate is a good idea that got me some spare points, thanks. Also, your comment about adding a ranged attack later gave me another idea entirely; an area attack with, as an alt, a single-target ranged attack. I believe this is a more effective way to give myself a single-target attack while also giving The Blur a ranged option, which I suppose he needed. As for Leaping, I was ready to disagree with you; The Blur could survive a seven mile long jump for the same reason he can survive a relaxed movement pace of 100,000 MPH, I'd imagine, and I wanted the novelty of being able to jump over, say, the Grand Canyon. Instead, I ended up thinking that having to jump something that big, with no valley below to just run through, would be a rare enough situation that I could power stunt a higher Leaping rank when it came up. So I ended up taking it down a few ranks, to get Regeneration back.

[Supercape]

You could buy something like air walking 2, limitation no vertical movement, to simulate running across a canyon in the style of a cartoon character!

[piercetbh]

That seems a little silly even for me, hehe. Air Walk + very high Speed also looks pretty overpowered, given the cost of Flight in comparison.

 

Edit: Well, its been a whole week now. I might as well submit this.

Edited February 15, 2014 by piercetbh