Emily "Mecha" Stenford

[souffle_girl]

Since this character looks feasible...

Based on the Battlesuit archetype, but with some changing around.

Player Name: Souffle_Girl

Character Name: Emily Stenford

Codename: Mechanized

Power Level: 10

Trade-Offs: +3 Toughness / -3 Defense

Unspent Power Points: 0

Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30

In Brief: Mutant, transgender daughter of a wealthy family trying to prove her worth by fighting crime with her customized battlesuit.

Place of residence: While Emily has a home in downtown Freedom, she often spends the night at her base of operations.

Base of Operations: Emily's base of operations is Stenford Arms main production facility, in the industrial district.

Identity: Public

Birthplace: Freedom City

Occupation: Full time superheroine

Affiliations: Stenford Arms, Freedom City Police Department

Family:

- Emily's dad, Edgar Charles Stenford, 55, is a very dedicated man and father. He also loves to personally work on machines. He loves his daughters deeply and would go to great lengths for them. Hwe never fully accepted Emily, not just because of her sexuality but also because he wished she would follow him into family business. Failing that he decided, as a father, to give her the best training and equipment he could muster to avoid her getting killed and as a businessman, he saw a chance to field-test his best tech for free and to advertise his company.

- Older sister: Jane Stenford, 23. Jane is studying Informatics in college, and apparently possesses her father's and sister's intellect. She's particularly good at hacking. She was the first person Emily came out to, and had a critical role in supporting her during her change as well as acting as a diplomat of sorts between Emily and her father. Her father is currently looking at her as his successor in guiding the family's firm. Emily is particularly close to Jane, who also takes care of her suit's software needs.

- Younger sister: Mary Stenford, 12. A little tomboish, very fond of her sisters, she wants to become a superhero too when she grows up.

- HAL: HAL is a small, white spherical robot the size of a basketball. It was built by Emily as a "pet project" - quite literally - and programmed by Jane. It behaves somehow like a dog and is roughly as smart. It is considered home's pet by the Stenfords and follows Emily around, playing with her and helping her in several tasks, including working on machines. It is completely useless in combat situations (Emily leaves him at home) and can deploy an array of weird looking tools with various purposes. In its name and shape it quotes some of Emily's favorite sci-fi. HAL can't talk, it communicates through beeps and flashing lights.

Description:

Age: 21

Gender: male to female transsexual

Ethnicity: undefined

Height: 5' 7"

Weight: 110 lbs

Eyes: silver

Hair: white

Emily is of average height and has a slender build. Her mutation gave her a very dark skin, an androgynous build and white hair, that she keeps long, usually in a braid. Together with years of hormones she now makes for a very natural looking girl. Emily has a thing for wearing overly girly clothes, but she has a bad taste in them, something her sister Jane is slowly trying to correct now that Emily is a public figure.

Power Descriptions:

Emily is a mutant, and her mutation gave her very odd looks and boosted her intellect to high levels. Her love of engineering, together with her new improved mind allowed her to build a customized battlesuit she calls a Mobile Combat Platform (MEC). When wearing the suit, Emily is a walking battle tank devoted on fighting evil.

The suit itself is large, bulky and painted matt black with the Stenfor Arms logo on its shoulders, looking a lot like a MEC from X-Com Enemy Within. On its right arm it sports a prototype Force Cannon, on her left arm a Flamethrower and it has a grnade launcher on its back, usually loaded with flashbangs. Whether Emily uses an helmet or not, the suit sports an holographic HUD with an integrated combat software.

History:

Emily was born Edgar Charles Jr. in Boston, second child of Edgar Charles Stenford Sr, the owner of one of the most important military development firms in the USA. Her mother died in 2009 in a car crash. Introduced at an early age to the family's business, she developed a keen interest for engineering. However, the young Edgar also came to understand quite early that he wanted to be a girl, growing more and more envious of his older sister's Jane when she entered her teen ages and started to develop. When she was 12, her mutation developed, bumping her from "smart kid" to "teen genius", the mad scientist kind. At the same time, her looks changed in an odd way: her skin darkened and her build became very androgynous, something she's always been thankful for.

A few years later, Emily finally built up the courage to come out as a transsexual and start her transition. While her sister Jane, who had known about Emily's secret for some time now, was delighted, their father was quite upset at first. It took a lot of time and work for them to get close again, and the gap never completely closed. Also, since Emily was the daughter of an important public figure, it was impossible to keep her change from being known. The fact of being publicly out as a transsexual, as well as a mutant, in one of the best rated high schools in Freedom caused her endless nightmares during her teens.

It was then that the idea of becoming a real superheroine, a mere fantasy before, took hold in the girl's mind, maybe because it would give her a real shot at changing a world she felt was uncaring and cruel, or maybe to show her father that she was still worth his love. Night after night she tinkered in her father's workshop, slowly making her combat exoskeleton a reality. When she graduated from high school, she set out to bring the fight to evil...

Being the genius, transsexual, mutant daughter of a multimillionaire makes Emily a gossip magnet. Publicly, her father backs her in an effort to improve his popularity, but in private he's still ashamed of her. While other people would relish in it, Emily hates the "celebrity" side of her life.

Personality & Motivation:

Emily always had two goals in life: becoming a woman, and becoming a superheroine. She's close enough to achieving the first and she's going for the second. As much as she would have loved to, having turned out quite good looking didn't make Emily less of a socially inept, hopeless nerd. Together with having been a long time target for discrimination, this makes her difficult to interact with at first. Once she builds up trust in someone, however, she can be warm and very friendly (although in a weird aching-for-company way).

Emily is also currently in a low phase in her love life: she never had troubles finding casual dates, but nobody appears to be interested in committing to a serious relationship with a freak, and dating a superheroine that owns a battle armor tends to be (unsurprisingly) devastating to a man's ego.

Despite the tensions between her father and her having eased up in the latest years, she never completely got over his disappointment when he discovered his only son wanted in fact to be a girl, and cares a lot for his opinion about her. She's driven to be a superheroine by two reasons: the first is to help the world become a better place, and the second is the fact it constantly pushes her to work harder on her inventions.

Powers & Tactics:

Having grown up in a military minded environment, Em is a firm believer in the tenant that a well planned and executed attack on a key enemy position can win an entire conflict. She applies the same principle to fighting crime: first, she finds out a weakness in her opponent's plan, then she equips her suit to best exploit it, and then she strikes with overwhelming force.

While her battlesuit is her preferred tool, she knows how to defend herself on foot and is no stranger to leaving the armor behind if the tactical situation calls for it.

Complications:

Prejudice: She's a transsexual mutant. What do you expect?

Fame: She's the daughter of a public figure and her father acts as her sponsor. Plus, she can't exactly go around unnoticed. As a result, she's been under the media's spotlight for some time now.

Abilities: -2 + 0 - 2 + 4 + 0 + 0 = 0PP

Unarmored / Armored

Strength: 8 (+0) / 30 (+10)

Dexterity: 10 (+0)

Constitution: 8 (-1) / 12 (+1)

Intelligence: 14 (+2) -> 28 (+9) due to Enhanced INT

Wisdom: 10 (+0)

Charisma: 10 (+0)

Combat: 16 + 6 = 22PP

Initiative: +0

Attack: +8, +10 Melee in suit, +8 Ranged in suit, +10 Force Cannon

Grapple: +7 unarmored, +25 in suit (+28 w/ servo-motors on)

Defense: +5 unarmored, +7 in suit (+3 Base, +2 Dodge Focus, 0/-1 size bonus, +3 Combat Software)

Knockback: +1 unarmored, -11 in suit

Saving Throws: 2 + 9 + 9 = 20PP

Toughness: -1 unarmored (-1 Con); +13 (+1 Con, +12 Protection [impervious 10]) armored

Fortitude: +1 unarmored (+2 base, -1 Con); +9 (+2 base, +1 Con, +6 Life Support) armored

Reflex: +9 (+9 base, +0 Dex)

Will: +9 (+9 base, +0 Wis)

Skills: 56R = 14PP

Computers 6 (+15, Skill Mastery)

Craft [Electronic] 6 (+15, Skill Mastery)

Craft [Mechanical] 6 (+15, Skill Mastery)

Diplomacy 6 (+6)

Disable Device 5 (+14)

Knowledge [Tactics] 6 (+15)

Knowledge [Technology] 6 (+15, Skill Mastery)

Notice 7 (+8)

Sense Motive 8 (+8)

Feats: 9PP

Benefit (Wealth 2)

Dodge Focus 2

Inventor

Improvised Tools

Luck 1

Skill Mastery (Computers, Craft [Electronic], Craft [Mechanical], Knowledge [Technology])

Master Plan

Powers: 91PP

Mutant Intellect: Enhanced INT 14 (biological, mutant) [14PP]

Device 19 (Mobile Combat Platform, Flaws: Hard to Lose, gives 95 device pp, Feats: Restricted 1 [+10 Knowledge: Technology to use], ) [77PP] (all powers have technological descriptor)

Base Power: Force Cannon (Blast 10, Feats: Accurate, 3 Alternate Power) [24PP] (technology, kinetic)

Alternate Power: Servo-motors: Enhanced Strength 14 linked with Super Strength 3 (feat: ground pound) [21PP] (technology)

Alternate Power: Flamethrower (Blast 10, feat: area [cone], flaw: range [touch]) [20PP] (technology, fire)

Alternate Power: Flashbang Launcher, (Dazzle 7 visual senses, feat: area [burst]) [21PP] (technology, light)

Communication 4 (radio, 4 mile range) [4PP] (technology, radio)

Container 4: Combat Software: [20PP] (technology)

Enhanced Defense 3

Enhanced Feats 9 (Accurate Attack, Attack Focus [melee] 3, Attack Focus [ranged] 1, Improved Aim, Power Attack, Interpose, Precise Shot)

Super-senses 6 (Direction Sense, Distance Sense, Infravision, Radio, Time Sense, Tracking [infravision])

Jump Pack: Leaping 6 (running jump 2000 ft, standing jump 1000 ft, high jump 500 ft.) [6PP] (technology)

Armored Plating: Protection 12 ( Extras: Impervious 10) [22PP] (technology)

Large Frame: Growth 4 (+8 STR, +4 CON, Large size; Flaw: permanent) [12PP] (technology)

Life Support: Enhanced Fortitude 6 [6PP] (Technological)

Drawbacks:

Normal Identity (full-round to don suit, Frequency: common, Intensity: major) [-4PP]

Vulnerable (EMP Attacks, Frequency: uncommon, Intensity: Moderate [+50% DC]) [-2 PP]

DC Block

Unarmed: Touch, DC 14 (unarmored); +10, Touch, DC 25 (armored)

Force Cannon: +10, Ranged, DC 25

Flamethrower: Close 8 ft wide and long cone, DC 25

Flashbang: Ranged 40 ft radius burst, DC 17

Total Points Spent: Abilities 0 + Skills 14 + Feats 9 + Powers 91 + Combat 22 + Saves 20 - Drawbacks 6 = 150 PP

Edited September 22, 2014 by souffle_girl

[Ari]

souffle_girl, welcome to the site. If you could head over to the Secret Identities thread to introduce yourself, that would be much appreciated.

As for the sheet, some formatting details first and foremost. Character sheets are required to have the DC Block at the absolute bottom, just above the total PP count. Complications are required to be just under Powers & Tactics and just above a [h no space between these letters r] line.

As for build itself, Intelligence is underpayed by 2PP, you have 2PP more in Feats than you have actually bought(convenient!), and the Device needs some formatting of its own.

Devices have simple [device]tags at the start of the power name and rank, and ending after the last power in that Device's PP count. For example.

[ device ]Device 8(40PP Device, Easy to Lose)[24PP] Star Lance

Blast 10[20PP]

Damage 10[10PP]

Trip 10[10PP][/ device ]

No spaces are supposed to be in the tags, that's just so they're clearer.

Arrays inside Devices get the [array] tag, like all Arrays. For example.

[ device ]Device 5(25PP Device, Hard to Lose; Feats: Restricted 1(characters with the Fearless Feat))[21PP] Viridian Torch Band

[ array ]Array 12(24PP Array; Feats: Alternate Power)[25PP]

Base Power: Blast 12[24PP]

AP: Create Object 12[24PP][/ array ][/ device ]

That formatting is necessary, because otherwise it can be tricky to just see what powers belong to what. As is, it looks like all her powers are independent of each other, which of course isn't the case. As well, be sure to say outright what Extras are in play. They look to mostly be Area Extras, but clarifying that hurts none and nothing.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Arichamus

[souffle_girl]

Whew. She should be ready now...

[KnightDisciple]

If the suit has 19 ranks of Device (hard to lose), and gives 95 PP inside the device, it should be 77PP (including the Restricted 1), not 73PP. 72PP for the device itself gets you 18 ranks, or 90PP. 

[souffle_girl]

I hate the math

[souffle_girl]

Before someone asks "why a mutant?"

In the setting she was originally built for (and where she has an origin story written, by the way, even if it's fanfiction) the fact itself she was able to build her suit was a mutant trait.

Here, building a battlesuit might look a little more trivial, but I still don't think a regular high school student could have managed to build a prototype battlesuit, one that would take a team of experienced engineers to put together, in her spare time.

Edited September 21, 2014 by souffle_girl

[Ari]

Oh, it's definitely not a trivial thing. In the site's canon having a battlesuit is a sign of both having a tremendous intellect and lots of wealth/engineering knowhow/resources. The 'main' powered armor-wearing NPC, Daedalus, is both incredibly brilliant and incredibly wealthy, with the villain team of the armored Power Corps having stolen their suits from the alien-tech-using genius Mastermind. Both of them are immortals, with thousands of years spent learning physics and engineering.

Really, the problem is less her being a mutant(though in that case, shouldn't some of her INT be an Enhanced Attribute in the Powers section?) and more that she somehow made a rank 19 Device out of spare parts from her father's military surplus gear. Not saying "That's unrealistic!" but it could do with a little explanation. Does Stenfor Arms deal with next-gen weaponry, and the suit a logical, if incredibly difficult to make, end result? Or is it a case of inhuman genius taking the mundane and making it fantastic?

[souffle_girl]

Stenford Arms does deal in very high tech weapons, and Emily grew up tinkering with machines. But to the bottom of it, the point is she's an inhuman genius. Being unable to give her more INT is what bothered me the most.

 

I guess I should try giving her what, a 28?

 

Gave her a 28. Actually, I had so many INT based skills, just taking away ranks in them and a couple more points got me to INT 28 without lowering the total skill bonus.

Edited September 21, 2014 by souffle_girl

[Thevshi]

SG, since we have been working on finalizing the character you submitted in the Character Bank, to avoid confusion it might be best to stop changing this version of the character.  Or perhaps I can just move over the other character sheet her for some more fine tuning and then you can resubmit?

[souffle_girl]

I'd say just delete the other thread for now...

[souffle_girl]

Okay, just a few more things to adjust.

For you combat block, I would not bother listing the +8 to range when in the suit, as that just ends up the same thanks to the AF: Range feat. But you should probably list that your +10 with the Force Cannon.

Your knockback in the suit would only be -11.

For your Toughness and Fort saves, you should probably list what they are outside of the suit.

I would just make your combat software a container (with 3.8 ranks), then you do not need everything linked together like you have it listed. It is basically what you have done, just does not require the linking.

For the Protection, you already have +1 from Con from the suit’s Growth, so 13 ranks of protection would put you at +14 toughness, and over caps. So you need to drop that down by 1, which frees up on point in the armor.

Also, your character’s stats are looking very slim, we generally like to see PCs that have a bit more investment in stats.

And one little point, you talk about your character being military minded, but the character has no Kn: Tactics. Master Plan aside, that really does not make her particularly skilled at tactics.

I fiddled a little with her armor's stats, caught a mistake, and managed to give her Knowledge [Tactics] as well as two more points in Diplomacy.

As for her abilities... outside her armor, she's an average human if you discount the intelligence boost. Raising her general stats looks a little useless game-wise, and lacks a foundation fluff-wise.

In other terms: catch her without armor and she's dead, dead, dead.

Edited September 21, 2014 by souffle_girl