Thunderclap (PL10) - Prince Vine

[Prince Vine]

Player Name: Prince Vine

Character Name: Thunderclap

Power Level: 10/150

Trade-Offs: None

Unspent Power Points: 0

Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30

In Brief: An awestruck fan boy who developed lightning powers at puberty fights crime as an escape from a painfully mundane life.

Alternate Identity: James Forte

Identity: Secret

Birthplace: Freedom City

Occupation: Radio Shack Associate

Affiliations: None as of yet

Family: Parents, older sister, younger brother

Description:

DOB: January 6,1989 (25)

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Height: 5’ 10â€

Weight: 180

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blonde

A lanky young man with a pinched nose, Thunderstruck doesn't have the resources to have a real costume yet. When evil strikes he pulls on a blue t-shirt with a sewn on white lightning bolt patch and a luchadore mask with the same design.

History: Born and raised in the city, he loved reading tales of the exploits of the heroes around him. At the age of 16 he started to develop powers and worked hard to control them on his own, causing many blowouts in the process. He passed college with unremarkable grades and rather than going into college like his sister he just took the first job he found and waits for the next big step.

Personality & Motivation: Enthusiastic and driven, he tries his hardest to be a hero like all the ones in the comics he read. He wants to be the next embodiment of justice and virtue and longs to be invited to a team.

Powers & Tactics: He can call lightning from the sky, power outlets or just ambient charges. His body generates an invisible deflective electromagnetic field. He can also direct incoming electricity through himself and out again into the world. When pressed he can turn himself into lightning and use it to instantly jump short distances. He enjoys jumping around as a lightning bolt and then valiantly unleashing the fury of the storm on wrong-doers.

Complications:

Secret: Identity. No one, including his family and his coworkers know who he is.

Obsession: Heroes. The ultimate fanboy he will go out of his way to watch other heroes at work and tends to freeze up when noticed by a legend.

Abilities: 2 + 4 + 6 + 0 + 2 + 0 = 16PP

Strength: 12 (+1)

Dexterity: 14 (+2)

Constitution: 16 (+3)

Intelligence: 10 (+0)

Wisdom: 14 (+2)

Charisma: 10 (+0)

Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP

Initiative: +6

Attack: +6 Melee, +10 Ranged

Grapple: +7

Defense: +6 (+6 Base), +3 Flat-Footed

Knockback: -5

Saving Throws: 1 + 5 + 1 = 7PP

Toughness: +10 (+3 Con, +7 Powers)

Fortitude: +4 (+3 Con, +1)

Reflex: +7 (+2 Dex, +5)

Will: +3 (+2 Wis, +1)

Skills: 40R = 10PP

Acrobatics 6 +8

Computers 6 +6

Diplomacy 4 +4

Disable Device 4 +4

Escape Artist 6 +8

Gather Information 10 +10

Intimidate 4 +4

Feats: 8PP

Attack Focus (ranged) 4

Environmental Adaptation (Storms) 1

Improved Block

Improved Initiative 1

Well-Informed

Powers: 36 + 35 + 7 +7 = 85PP

Electrical Control Thunderbolt; Mutant, Weather

Base Power: Blast 5 Lightning; Mutant, Weather, Electricity Feats: Improved Range 3, Indirect 2 [20PP]

Linked Power: Dazzle 5 Aftershock; Mutant, Weather, Light, Sonic; Auditory & Visual Feats: Improved Range 3, Indirect 2 [15PP]

Alternate Power: Nullify 5 Overload; Mutant, Electricity; Feats: Improved Range 3, Indirect 2

Deflect 7 Living Capacitor; Mutant, Electricity; Extras: Redirection, Reflection, Action 3 (Reaction) Flaws: Limited (Electricity) [35PP]

Protection 7 Static Field; Mutant, Electric, Magnetic [7PP]

Teleport 5 Lightning Leap; Mutant, Electricity; Extras: Accurate, Feats: Change direction, Change velocity Flaws: Short-range, Limited (Pass through distance as lightning bolt) [7PP]

DC Block

ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT

Lightning 500 ft DC 20 Toughness Damage (Electricity)

Aftershock 500 ft DC 20 Reflex/Fortitude Blindness/Deafness

Overload 500 ft DC 15 Will Nullify Technology

Unarmed Touch DC 16 Toughness Damage

Totals: Abilities (16) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (7) + Skills (10) + Feats (8) + Powers (85) = 150/150 Power Points

Edited June 30, 2014 by Prince Vine

[Gizmo]

Welcome to the site, Vine!

 

First off, I'd like to see considerably more content under all of his 'fluff' headings. There aren't any hard and fast rules for minimums there but take a look at some of the approved sheets to get a better idea of what's expected. His History section in particular is quite sparse. You say he developed powers as a teenager but you don't explain how or elaborate on his training. We could stand to hear a little more about his sister and the rest of his family and why he decided against university. If he's so motivated to be just like his heroes, why hasn't he done anything more significant than accidentally blow out some power generators with his powers for almost ten years?

 

As for his motivation, having him be a comic book fan is fine but remember that this is a setting where there are actual superheroes flying and leaping around. If he's a Freedom City native then he's lived through alien invasions, mass outbreaks of uncontrollable superpowers, hordes of the walking dead and so on! It may make more sense for him to be inspired by actual heroes like the similarly lightning themed Captain Thunder or his son Bolt, who's roughly the same age as James by now. Again, it also begs the question of why he's been sitting on his hands for so long-- it's tough to have a 'painfully mundane life' in Freedom City!

 

A few more Complications would be a good way to give prospective GMs a better idea of the sorts of stories James might fit into well. I usually look for at least four or five solid Complications for plot hooks on a starting character's sheet with the assumption that more will usually be added as the character sees play and develops. As I said, take a look at some already approved sheets for inspiration.

 

Imagine you were trying to get a friend to pick up the Thunderclap comic book. What would they need to know to get up to speed? Why should they care about this character more than other superheroes they could be buying comics about instead? What's the hook that would make them interested to see what happens to Thunderclap in the future?

---

Now, on the mechanical side of things:

 

You've got his Abilities budgeted as "2 + 4 + 6 + 0 + 2 + 0 = 16PP", it should be "2 + 4 + 6 + 0 + 4 + 0 = 16PP" to account for his Wisdom score.

 

Right now James is significantly undercapped for Defense. Short version: your starting PL10 character should hit all PL10 caps. It's just a question of practical play. Remember that you have the option of trade-offs if you'd like him to be tougher or better at dodging attacks.

 

His exotic saves are also quite low. The rule of thumb is often quoted as "averaging out to PL-2", so averaging +8 in this case. I say rule of thumb because you're under no obligation to meet that average and can go above it as well but right now he's noticeably below it.

 

Computers and Disable Device make a lot of sense but I'm curious how an electronics store clerk has learned Escape Artist skills! The answer may actually be a good story to help flesh out his backstory!

 

Quoting from the Core Rules regarding Improved Block: "If you can block ranged attacks (using the Deflect power, page 81), your Improved Block bonus does not apply to those block rolls, which are improved separately by adding power ranks." Probably not worth it! In fact, spending 35PP on a Deflect power at all is probably a poor choice. Deflect, while sounding really cool, is overpriced and underused in practice. I might suggest Impervious 10 (Extras: Reflective [Electricity]) [20PP] for a more useful and PP efficient way to build a similar effect.

 

All of your formatting is lacking the proper brackets and ordering which makes it a lot more difficult to parse at a glance. For example:

 

Teleport 5 (500' Move Action, 5 miles Full Action; Extras: Accurate, Flaws: Short-Range, Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Drawbacks: Cross Distance as Lightning) [11PP] (lightning leap; electricity, genetic)

 

I use his Teleport as an example because passing through distance as a lightning bolt, while an evocative image, is not a significant enough hindrance to be a Flaw. Medium [Power Lines] would be a Flaw, since it significantly restricts where the effect could actually take him. Being unable to pass through nonconducting barriers would still be a reasonable Drawback.

 

That's a lot of stuff to work on right off the bat, I know, but the skeleton of the sheet is good! If you need advice fleshing out the character or on how to build a particular effect, take advantage of the Character Building forum and ask questions in Chat.

[Prince Vine]

I took the teleport power right out of one of the supplement books, but I can change it while I fiddle with the others. I can put in some more background and tweak his age (I think I want him younger) on Monday or Tuesday, I had some issues with my post not copying over, so more stuff got left out every time I rewrote the darn thing but it is floating around. I assumed that there would be lots of comic books in Freedom City, just the heroes wouldn't be fictional, much like Julio Scoundrel in Order of the Stick has his own in-universe comic.

[Gizmo]

Well, OotS is a more satirical universe than the World of Freedom but you're right, there are comic books in-universe licensed by actual superheroes. What I'm saying is that, in the real world, would a martial artist say they were inspired by Jackie Chan or the version of Jackie Chan from the Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon? The latter is explicitly fictionalized and working hard to be like the real guy - who's plenty impressive on his own - probably makes more sense. Thunderclap would probably be more directly inspired by that one time the real Captain Thunder actually saved the world than that one made-up issue of the Freedom League comic book.

[April]

Archived Pending Renewed Player Interest/Return