Character Concept

[Shadowraptor]

Ok, I was working on a character, and seeing I want my character to be diverse in a lot of ways, and still be powerful at the same time, I thought I'd give it some thoughts here first, before I get flamed at character creation.

I want my character to have a variety of abilities, but I'm afraid most people will see it as an attempt to just create a very powerful character (which might be true in a way)

The character idea is someone who has no biological parents (or not that he knows of) he is a force of nature, created by nature itself, and is also totally alien to our current society.. (which would be funny, when they ask him to pay at the local store, also his first encounter with a car could be interesting..)

Here's the general abilities I want to give him:

Illusions (Magic)

Teleportation (Cosmic)

Shapechange (Biological)

Regeneration (Biological)

Telekinesis (Psionic)

Force Field (Psionic)

Flight (Psionic)

Super-Strength (Divine)

I've generally figured out a story for all the powers and their origins, but I'm wanting to hear the referees about it first..

I generally take a roleplaying penalty of being totally alien to our current world, as a trade-off for some powers which seem out of place (e.g. , the teleportation and illusions)

Bring on the flames :bunny:

[Warmonger]

Well honestly there isn't an incredible need for flames. The magic array will bag you Illusion, Teleportation, Telekinesis, forcefield and flight. Mid-Level regeneration is not that expensive.

What do you mean by Shape change? Do you mean simply morphing to look like others things or do you want to look like other things and have whole new stats of another form. The first one is easy and won't cost you much. The other one is pretty expensive and isn't all that great without a lot of ranks in it. Not to mention the refs on this site will not approve variable array powers.

[Dr Archeville]

As for "having no parents" and being a "force of nature," there are two characters like that in the Freedom City setting: Doctor Manhattan and Hiroshima Shadow.

[Shadowraptor]

Well I had basically in mind that he's still learning how to use his powers. So I was generally only going for shapechanging into other people/animals.

Not shapechanging into alternate forms like air or fire or anything, though that would be cool as well..

and I know the Magic Array generally duplicates these powers, I want them (like described) to have multiple sources.. For various reasons..

I'm just glad u guys have an open mind about these things. :-)

I think I'll create my PL6 character first.. :super:

[Dr Archeville]

You'll need a really good backstory to justify having all those different power sources -- I can't think of many characters who have powers from three sources, let alone five.

Shapechanging into people would be the Morph power. Shapechanging into Animals would be the Shapeshift power (Flawed to being only able to shapeshift into animals)... unless you want to only be able to shapeshift into human-sized animals (and not actually gain any of their abilities, like claws or wings/flight), in which case that can be done with Morph, too.

[Shadowraptor]

You'll need a really good backstory to justify having all those different power sources -- I can't think of many characters who have powers from three sources, let alone five.

Well maybe I'll surprise you. I've typed only 3 pages of background so far :-P

Shapechanging into people would be the Morph power. Shapechanging into Animals would be the Shapeshift power (Flawed to being only able to shapeshift into animals)... unless you want to only be able to shapeshift into human-sized animals (and not actually gain any of their abilities, like claws or wings/flight), in which case that can be done with Morph, too.

Hmm, I'll look into it, tnx

Any more suggestions ? :-D

[Heridfel]

As for "having no parents" and being a "force of nature," there are two characters like that in the Freedom City setting: Doctor Manhattan and Hiroshima Shadow.

Someone's been reading too much Watchmen. I think you mean Doctor Metropolis. I think Doctor Manhattan had parents, but moved beyond them.

[Shadowraptor]

Ghehe, well I've played a wolf-born werewolf (Lupus) in a White-Wolf Werewolf campaign once. Which can be quite interesting if you think I eventually used the car-radio as a weapon cause I thought it was a bomb..

but mostly, people will think you're a power-player if you create a character with no family nor relatives.

.. of course, I am still a power-player, but I still need to have an interesting character concept to enjoy playing the game...

[Warmonger]

Well as a general rule the refs here are fairly open minded. If you want to spend your 150 points to become a powerhouse no one is really going ot stand in your way (we might criticize you behind your back though :mrgreen: ).

The only hitch is of course if your not goign to put all of those under a single array like magic the you better get awful creative with the point shaving. And I mean real creative cause the refs here don't miss a thing... generally... mostly.

[Dr Archeville]

Someone's been reading too much Watchmen. I think you mean Doctor Metropolis. I think Doctor Manhattan had parents, but moved beyond them.

Manhattan, Metropolis, same thing... ;)

[Veiled Malice]

Manhattan, Metropolis, same thing...

Not to hear Alan Moore tell it. :)

[Shadowraptor]

Btw, I was planning on giving my character an alternate identity, like when he gets angry or enraged for instance.. I thought the Evolutionary Shift power (p.155) looked quite interesting.

Could you tell me something about that ? from what I understand, you just get to design a 2nd character (minus the evolutionary shift points) with all new abilities and stats ?

.. I was thinking about making a totally psionic entity with it, with telekinesis, telepathy, and perhaps some more..

[Dr Archeville]

You're correct, a 2nd (and 3rd and 4th) character built on a number of points equal to (the same number of points as the 'core' character -10 [for the Evolutionary Shift]).

Do keep in mind, though, that, since Evolutionary Shift is the Morph/Metamorph power, and you'd have four character sheets, it'd take four times as long to get approved. And chances aren't great that it even would be approved, based on the last character who tried to do a "Morph/Metamorph into Many Characters" concept.

Also, if he automatically shifts when enraged or something, that'd be the Accidental Change drawback.

[Avalon]

You're correct, a 2nd (and 3rd and 4th) character built on a number of points equal to (the same number of points as the 'core' character -10 [for the Evolutionary Shift]).

Do keep in mind, though, that, since Evolutionary Shift is the Morph/Metamorph power, and you'd have four character sheets, it'd take four times as long to get approved. And chances aren't great that it even would be approved, based on the last character who tried to do a "Morph/Metamorph into Many Characters" concept.

Also, if he automatically shifts when enraged or something, that'd be the Accidental Change drawback.

Uh.... that would be mine. I wouldn't advise it though. It took me age to finish it and you'd have to jump through more hoops to get it approved.

[Shadowraptor]

Well, I would just want 1 form which to shift to.. when I get angry.. which will probably not happen very often.

So that would mean I just need 2 seperate characters right ?

Anyway, working on a PL6 character while I ponder some more about my PL10 character anyway, I'm in no rush.

I must admit, I find the UP rules for creating powers a bit more complex than the original rules. I'm having a hard time understandig when I have to take something as an alternate power or as a power feat.. or as an extra ?

For example, if I wanted to include the following powers as a group (Think it's called "Array" ?) how would I do that most efficiently.. ?

Telekinises, Telepathy, Flight, and Force Field

Also, what are the drawbacks of an array over taking the powers seperately ? Wouldn't it mean that when I have a set of powers in an array, that I can't activate them simultaneously ? I would like to be able to Fly, have a force field, AND use my telepathy at the same time...

[Warmonger]

Well technically you can create an array with just those powers you would make the most expensive power the base power and then AP the rest. You can say the other powers come from whatever source you want.

Normally you wouldn't be able to use them all at the same time, unless you made them a Dynamic array. Which would allow you to use them all but in a tug of war fashion. Meaneing you would have to take the same amount of points form one to power the other. Which isn't a big deal with say attack, or travel powers but your defensive powers are going to be lower when you might need them. Now considering that you can only use reaction, and sustained duration powers simultaneously in a round that may or may not be all that limiting.

[Dr Archeville]

Well maybe I'll surprise you. I've typed only 3 pages of background so far :-P

Quantity =/= Quality. But, if it's got both quality & quantity, that's awesome

As for your more recent question, Warmonger's pretty much got it right.

With a regular Array, you can only ever use one power in it at a time. By making the powers Dynamic, you can use more than one at a time, mixing the available points up. By taking powers out of an Array, it costs more, but you're able to use more at once.

So say you've got a "Psychic Power" Array. Telekinesis 10 (PFs: 3 Alternate Powers: Flight 10, Force Field 10 [impervious], Telepathy 10). Total Cost: 20+3 = 23pp.

In any given round, you can use one and only one of those powers.

This doesn't cost much, but in return you are only ever able to use one power at a time.

Now say you've got a "Dynamic Psychic Power" Array. Telekinesis 10 (PFs: Dynamic, and 3 Dynamic Alternate Powers: Flight 10, Force Field 10 [impervious], Telepathy 10). Total Cost: 20+7 = 27pp.

In any given round, you can have 20pp of those powers active. So you could have Force Field 10 one round, then Flight 5, Force Field 5 the next round, then Flight 1, Force Field 5, Telepathy 4 the next round, and so on.

Or you could take some powers out of the Array, and always have them available. Say, Flight 3, Force Field 10 (Impervious), Telekinesis 10 (PF: Alternate Power: Telepathy 10). Total Cost: 6+20+20+1 = 47pp.

In any given round, you can have your full Flight and Force Field, and either your TK or your Telepathy.

This costs much more, but in return you get to be able to use more of your powers at once.

[Shadowraptor]

So say you've got a "Psychic Power" Array. Telekinesis 10 (PFs: 3 Alternate Powers: Flight 10, Force Field 10 [impervious], Telepathy 10). Total Cost: 20+3 = 23pp

Only 23pp's ?!?!

Could you breakdown the costs seperately for me ? I'm really confused now. Or maybe I'm just confused about Arrays.

I was already wondering how alternate powers are purchased, but I hadn't expected them to be just Power Feats..

[Dr Archeville]

Alternate Powers are bought as Power Feats.

An example from the Archetypes: the Battlesuit Archetype has Blast 12 (PF: Alternate Power: Enhanced Strength 24). The total cost is 25pp: 24pp for Blast 12, plus 1 more for the one alternate power power feat. In any given round, the Battlesuit Guy can either blast a foe, or be superhumanly strong.

Think of Alternate Powers as different "settings" for the main power. Each Alternate Power may be built on up to as many pp as are in the 'base' power.

[Warmonger]

Right what he said. It works out really well for travel powers and attack powers. Since you can only use one of those at a time in a round anyway. It is much less ideal for defensive powers. Since A Blast +10 turns your forcefield off completely.

You should make a list of the powers you definitely want. We'll try to whip up a quick little array and the powers at the same time and give you an idea of what you could get. So far the powers you described in array shouldn't cost you more than 50-75 points done right.

[Shadowraptor]

Right what he said. It works out really well for travel powers and attack powers. Since you can only use one of those at a time in a round anyway. It is much less ideal for defensive powers. Since A Blast +10 turns your forcefield off completely.

You should make a list of the powers you definitely want. We'll try to whip up a quick little array and the powers at the same time and give you an idea of what you could get. So far the powers you described in array shouldn't cost you more than 50-75 points done right.

I understand that, but you're giving an entire new example again, while I'd just like to understand how the 4 powers described above in an array cost only 23pp ? Because I still don't understand that calculation, and I'd like to understand it, cos I'll have a better understanding of the system..

[Dr Archeville]

Telekinesis 10 (PFs: 3 Alternate Powers: Flight 10, Force Field 10 [impervious], Telepathy 10). Total Cost: 20+3 = 23pp

Telekinesis 10 = 20pp, since it's a 2pp/rank power. 10x2 = 20.

3 Alternate Powers = 3 Power Feats = 3pp, since each PF costs 1 pp.

20+3 = 23pp total.

Each Alternate Power can be built on up to 20pp (the cost of the 'base' power, in this case the Telekinesis). Since they're Alternate Powers, though, then the only actual/real cost is the cost of the Alternate Power Power Feat, which is 1pp.

Does that sufficiently clarify things?

[Shadowraptor]

so, all the extra powers, are that cheap to put into an array ? You basically pay 1 pp for a complete extra power...

(although of course, with the drawback of not being able to use them at the same time)

didn't think an array of powers would be that cheap..

but It's clear now, tnx :clap:

[Dr Archeville]

By Jove, I think he's got it!

[Warmonger]

Right but I remember you wanted regeneration and some other powers. So I figured those would go as seperate powers. I also figured you might not want to have your main defensive power in an array because your damage save will be lessened if you use any other powers.