pc Samaritan (PL 7) - Eternal Phoenix

[EternalPhoenix]

Player Name: Eternal Phoenix
Character Name: Samaritan
Power Level: 7 (105/112 PP)
Trade-Offs: None
Unspent PP: 7
Progress towards Bronze: 7/30

In Brief: Inexplicable Human Totem, capable of amazing physical feats and aware of every physical object around him.

Alternate Identites: Vonnie Murray
Identity: Secret
Birthplace: New York City
Occupation: Freelance Journalist
Affliations: None, barring Claremont Academy in general
Family: Vina Murray (sister), Elena Veracruz (mother, deceased), Laquiesha Janine Parker

Age: 16
Apparent Age: 16
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Half African-American, Half Puerto Rican
Height: 5’ 9â€
Weight: 170
Eyes: Dark Brown
Hair: Dark Brown

Description: Vonnie is dark skinned and a little skinny. He shows zero outward sign of being anything other than a normal mixed race teenager. However, to those with mystic senses, his soul shines brighter than the sun. His costume, such as it is, is a white T-shirt with a cross in the center and a blindfold style mask.

History: Vonnie Murray was an ordinary teenager in the Bronx who had brains to spare and a slight gadgeteering bent. One day, when he was 14, one of his inventions went haywire, spraying both him and his sister with unknown energies. He soon found he was stronger, faster, and tougher than everyone on the block. Like most kids his age, he idealized super heroes. Now that he had super powers, what better idea than to give it a go? It was a smashing success. He saved people. Punched out thugs. Street level stuff, but Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan began to take notice of his presence. Meanwhile, his personal life had begun to improve. Gail Verner, one of his classmate and just about the most idolized girl in school (not that she catered to that impression, mind), started hanging out with him and his small circle. Small meaning Vonnie and a rotating cast of neighborhood kids. Most notable were Darrell (moderately wealthy), Tonio (meathead with a good heart), Carmen (fulfilling that tough Latina stereotype unironically), and Laquiesha Janine AKA LJ (fulfilling that airheaded party girl stereotype apparently unironically). As time went on, Vonnie and Gail even started dating. Young love is a beautiful thing.

That said, The Labyrinth has a vested interest in new super heroes, as some of them can be…useful. However, Vonnie (now being called Samaritan by the media because of his cross t-shirt and borderline reckless devotion to getting people out of harm’s way), had no detectible super powers or special training, despite his tremendous physical gifts. A lesser DNA Ascendant was sent to capture him. It…didn’t go well. The man was an idiot, and a thug. Not to mention somehow his combat programming didn’t take, so he couldn’t fight any better than the thug he started out as. He went smashing through Vonnie’s home, and managed to murder his mother and Gail (who happened to be visiting) before Vonnie arrived. Vina was on the floor, clearly next. Seeing two of the three people he loved most in the worst broken like dolls, and the same about to happen to the third…something in the back of Vonnie’s mind broke loose. His vision grayed, and he attacked the monster who’d stolen almost everything from him. They almost killed each other in a savage brawl across what seemed like half the Bronx. The thug was strong, but for every hit he got on Vonnie, Vonnie hit with two or three. They fought until neither could stand up. Doctors still aren’t sure if the thug will ever walk again, but Vonnie recovered with remarkable speed. A neighbor (LJ’s dad, as it happened) took the devastated siblings in afterward. As it turned out, LJ was not an airhead. It was just a phase, and the shock of seeing her friend in physical and emotional agony shook her out of it pretty hard. As Darnell, Tonio, Carmen and the rest drifted away, she drifted closer. Gail was a good person, no doubt about it, but LJ possessed a decidedly larger heart. Vonnie slowly rebuilt his life. The NYC press blaming Samaritan for the whole affair didn’t help, but he refused to quit hero work. His mother and Gail, had they known he was Samaritan in the first place, would not approve. His reputation was ruined. So what? He didn’t do this for praise. Eventually his friends drifted back to him. By that time he and LJ had been going out for a month already. The press moved on. 10th grade was wrapping up. It had been an entire year. The memories still hurt, but on the whole...life was good again. He even felt confident enough to confide his life as Samaritan to LJ. She took it well, all things considered.

And then another DNA Ascendant attacked. This one was smarter and could actually fight, but there was something wrong with her. She was a bird analogue with razor feathers, only she seemed very, very sick. There was an air of desperation about her as she launched an assault on Vonnie as he was swinging home. The combination made her sloppy, not that Vonnie noticed. The collateral damage added up, but he couldn’t do anything more to take her down than he already was. He couldn’t do anything but watch as people were injured. His people. And then he saw LJ, holding her fallen father. He was going to meet them at the corner store. Something in the back of his mind broke loose, and his vision grayed out. He was stronger, faster. The bird woman couldn’t dream of stopping him. He hit her again. And again. And again. Her razor feathers dug into his flesh, but he didn’t feel it. It was when he hadn’t been hit back in a while that he backed off. Blood loss abruptly caught up to him, but before he passed out he saw her. Broken, like a doll. Vonnie was horrified, but something in the back of his mind was well satisfied.

The bird woman’s still in a coma. This time, Duncan Summers took a personal interest in the young man who’d garnered so much interest from a unknown party. However, Vonnie flatly refused to go alone. For one, his sister was starting to demonstrate powers similar to his own and that quite frankly scared him to death. Second, there wasn’t a way on this earth that he’d leave her or his orphaned girlfriend behind. That said…LJ told him off HARD. The language was both colorful, vicious, and tinged with just enough grief to hit what her anger couldn’t. Vonnie just took it. Meekly. It was, after all, all his fault. His fault for having the arrogance to think he could just put on a mask and save people. His fault for the accident that triggered his powers. His fault for being born in the first place. All the death and all the pain around him were all his fault. She finally ran out of steam. He nodded. Said one thing. And walked away. LJ watched him go, emotions warring. He wanted to return the favor from a year ago? When she’d been there for him when he’d lost his only parent? Who did he think he was? But…he could’ve asked for anything or even nothing at all. He didn’t even have to come see her again. But he did. He knew she’d be mad, but he took the verbal beating without a word in his own defense. All he did was ask if he could help her. Stupid @#$%^&. She ran to him. @#$% straight he’d return the favor.

Thus, Vonnie, Vina, and LJ came to Freedom City, and Samaritan joined the student body at Claremont Academy.

Personality & Motivation: Vonnie is a good kid. He was idealistic starting out, but reality has tempered that some. That said, he’s a hero. He firmly believes that because he has power, he should use it to help people. He’s no boy scout, though. He remains very much a teenage boy, and he’s definitely got that rebellious, angry loner thing down pat. However, he’s more often just earnest and caring. It’s just that great loss can take a toll on even the strongest of psyches.

Power Descriptions: Neither Vonnie nor anyone else knows it, but his powers are mystic in nature. He’s a animal totem, but his animal is the human animal. At the moment, that means he has peak physical strength, agility, and stamina. He’s faster than the fastest of sprinters. However, the thing that sets him apart is his Spatial Awareness. He can sense anything with a physical presense around him. Neither walls, doors, or any kind of concealment short of magical can block it. As such, he’s rarely surprised.

Powers & Tactics: Samaritan only has one tactic. Get the civilians out of harm’s way, then hit the bad guy in the face. He’s quite predicable in that regard, actually. What helps with this is his Wrist Mounted Grapples. They’re essentially wrist mounted grapple guns that he uses to swing through the city. He does require a fairly ready supply of hooks to put on the ends of the cables so that they’ll stick. He’s also been known to use them as a tether to pull or swing things around.

Complications:

Your Powers, How Do They Work?: As Samaritan’s powers can’t be detected by ordinary methods, The Labyrinth wants him badly. So they can dissect and study his physiology and learn how exactly his powers work.

Got People Depending On Me, Man: Vonnie’s sister Vina and his girlfriend LJ are the most important people in his life. He’ll defend them more viciously than anyone else.

Toeing The Line: When pushed hard enough, Samaritan can and has abandon heroic combat mores and start fighting with a vicious and savage bent. He regrets it later, but descending into savagery when stressed seems to be a part of his powers. Honestly? It scares the crap out of him.

.I Can Handle It: Vonnie’s been in a lot of fights. Some of them went badly for him, but he’s never truly lost a fight. This, and being a teenager has led to a feeling of nigh invincibility that will come back to bite him someday.

The Price Of Fame: Samaritan’s two brawls with the DNA Ascendants (flawed as they were), along with a few assorted other battles, have made him somewhat famous in super villain circles. Someone could try to take the kid out to make a name for himself. It’s not like Vonnie’s about to turn down a fight against a villain, after all.

Abilities: 0+0+0+8+2+2=12

Strength 24 (+7) [10 (+0)] (Enhanced Statistic)
Dexterity 24 (+7) [10 (+0)] (Enhanced Statistic)
Constitution 24 (+7) [10 (+0)] (Enhanced Statistic)
Intelligence 18 (+4)
Wisdom 12 (+1)
Charisma 12 (+1)

Combat: 6+6=12
Initiative: +7 (+7 Dex)
Attack: +3 (+7 Unarmed)
Grapple: +10
Defense: +7 (+3 Base, + 4 Dodge Focus, +1 Flat Footed)
Knockback: -3

Saving Throws:
Toughness: +0/+7 (+7 Con)
Fortitude: +0/+7 (+7 Con)
Reflex: +0/+7 (+7 Dex)
Will: +7 (+1 Wis, +6)

Skills: 28 SP= 7PP
Acrobatics 2 (+2/+9)
Bluff 6 (+7)
Craft (mechanical) 1 (+5)
Knowledge (physical sciences) 1 (+5)
Knowledge (streetwise) 1 (+5)
Knowledge (technology) 1 (+5)
Notice 9 (+10)
Sense Motive 7 (+8)

Feats: 9PP
Attack Specialization (Unarmed) 2
Dodge Focus 4
Inventor
Last Stand (use extra effort to ignore damage penalties for one round)
Uncanny Dodge (mental)

Powers: 14+14+14+1+3+6+8=59

Enhanced CON 14 [14PP]

Enhanced DEX 14 [14PP]

Enhanced STR 14 [14PP]

Leaping 1 (running jump 34 ft., standing jump 17 ft., high jump 8 ft.) [1PP]

Speed 3 [3PP]

Super Senses 5 (Spatial Awareness [accurate, acute, radius, ranged mental sense]) [5PP]

Device 2 ( 10 PP Container; Flaws: Hard-to-Lose ) [8PP] (Wrist Mounted Grapples)
 

Snare 1 (Power Feats: Improved Range 2[50 ft incr], Reversible, Tether [100 ft.] [6DP]
Super Movement 2 (Slow Fall, Swinging) [4DP]

 

 

 

 

 

DC Block:

Unarmed (+7 Hit, DC 22)

 

 

 

 

 

Abilities 12 + Combat 12 + Saving Throws 6 + Skills 7 + Feats 9 + Powers 59– Drawbacks 0= 105/112

Edited May 9, 2015 by HG Morrison
+1pp for April 2015

[Fox]

Hoogh. That's...a slightly dark background, there. Keep in mind that massive collateral damage and putting people into comas is not a heroic action - it probably shouldn't be something to be proud of.

I like the 'human animal' thing, though. It's a neat twist on the whole animal totem archetype.

Fluff

History references 'Savior', right at the end - guessing that's an artifact from an older name for this character? Same thing crops back up in the Toeing the Line complication.

Skills

With a dex of 24 and 2 ranks, Acrobatics would have a +9 bonus, not +7.

Powers

You're over-paying for your Spatial Awareness; it's a new mental sense, so assuming you're applying the modifications to just that one sense (rather than your entire mental sense) it's Accurate (2), Acute (1), Radius (1), Ranged (1) for a total of 5 ranks, rather than 6. You have 1pp left to mess with here!

Something's a little funky with your device container, there. Devices don't generally cost more than they get you in pp - the whole point of a device is to get a cost break on the powers!

Containers don't have an overhead cost unless you throw feats or extras or such onto the container itself; spending 15pp on a container gets you 15pp to spend inside. Though your listing of the inner powers is incomplete, I calculate it something like this (very rough, off the top of my head; double-check my math before applying to the sheet!):

Snare 2 (Feats: Improved Range 2 [100' increments], Reversible, Tether [200']) [8dp]

Super-Movement 2 (Slow Fall, Swinging) [4dp]

Which is 12pp (9pp if you array them, though you lose the fun of hauling someone through the air behind you while swinging), so you're overpaying. And that's only if it's a straight container! Really, something like this should probably be a hard-to-lose device (which gets you 5 device points to spend for every 4pp you feed into it), in which case it's something like Device 3 (15pp device; Flaw: Hard-to-Lose) [12pp], in which case you're both overpaying and have extra dp inside the device to spend.

[EternalPhoenix]

Hoogh. That's...a slightly dark background, there. Keep in mind that massive collateral damage and putting people into comas is not a heroic action - it probably shouldn't be something to be proud of.

Well, that goes without saying. Most of the former wasn't his fault, and the latter...it's a weird thing. He's proud of winning, of surviving something he shouldn't have, but how he pulled it off...not so much, no. This is essentially Peter Parker if he was less of a boy scout.

Fluff

History references 'Savior', right at the end - guessing that's an artifact from an older name for this character? Same thing crops back up in the Toeing the Line complication.

Yep. I knew I missed some of them. Thank you, sir.

Skills

With a dex of 24 and 2 ranks, Acrobatics would have a +9 bonus, not +7.

Fixed that before I left last night.

Powers

You're over-paying for your Spatial Awareness; it's a new mental sense, so assuming you're applying the modifications to just that one sense (rather than your entire mental sense) it's Accurate (2), Acute (1), Radius (1), Ranged (1) for a total of 5 ranks, rather than 6. You have 1pp left to mess with here!

Ooh, I can have that rank of Leaping.

Something's a little funky with your device container, there. Devices don't generally cost more than they get you in pp - the whole point of a device is to get a cost break on the powers!

Containers don't have an overhead cost unless you throw feats or extras or such onto the container itself; spending 15pp on a container gets you 15pp to spend inside. Though your listing of the inner powers is incomplete, I calculate it something like this (very rough, off the top of my head; double-check my math before applying to the sheet!):

Snare 2 (Feats: Improved Range 2 [100' increments], Reversible, Tether [200']) [8dp]

Super-Movement 2 (Slow Fall, Swinging) [4dp]

Which is 12pp (9pp if you array them, though you lose the fun of hauling someone through the air behind you while swinging), so you're overpaying. And that's only if it's a straight container! Really, something like this should probably be a hard-to-lose device (which gets you 5 device points to spend for every 4pp you feed into it), in which case it's something like Device 3 (15pp device; Flaw: Hard-to-Lose) [12pp], in which case you're both overpaying and have extra dp inside the device to spend.

I just looked at it again, and yeah I screwed up the notation hard. Think I've got it repaired, though. The total cost was right, I just wrote it wrong, and forgot to account for the loss of the Medium Flaw. Device is a medium, EP.

[Fox]

Fixed a couple formatting things for you - a curly brace where a square bracket should be, added the Hard-to-Lose to your device, fixed the DC block which...appears to be trying to escape off the bottom of your sheet by inserting a new blank line above itself every time the sheet gets edited. Very odd.

APPROVED

[Avenger Assembled]

This seems like an awful lot of punishment for a PL 7 with no tradeoffs to have taken.

 

How on Earth did he beat two rampaging supervillains with the power to level a house and wreck a city block? 

 

What's his girlfriend's motivation for staying with him at this point, given all the bodies hanging around his neck? 

[EternalPhoenix]

This seems like an awful lot of punishment for a PL 7 with no tradeoffs to have taken.

 

How on Earth did he beat two rampaging supervillains with the power to level a house and wreck a city block?

They were as PL7 as he is, just a bit more Damage and Toughness shifted. A standard one would've took him apart. Also some built up hero points and the favor of the Random Number God. I...may have seen too many action movies, as well.

 

What's his girlfriend's motivation for staying with him at this point, given all the bodies hanging around his neck?

That could be clearer, yes. I was trying to be concise with the history, not write a novel. I'll expand things so that it makes more sense. A quick glance shows I skipped way too much. Edited August 21, 2014 by EternalPhoenix

[EternalPhoenix]

Rewrote the history. It's all long now. Complications got tweaked slightly, as well.

[Avenger Assembled]

All right - it's a little murdery, but I've certainly written backstories with much, much, much, much more murder! Just don't lose this supporting cast! 

 

APPROVED