Case Cobra - PL10

[CoverAndFire]

Player Name: CoverAndFire

Character Name: Case Cobra

Power Level: 10 [125/150PP]

Trade-Offs: None

Unspent Power Points: 25

Progress to Bronze Status: 0/30

 

In Brief: Teenage cyberpunk fanboy who's handy with handguns and doesn't know he's a living weapon.

 

Alternate Identity: Brian Irvine Zangrando

Identity: Secret

Birthplace: Chicago

Catchphrase: "You ready? Let's ride."

Occupation: Pizza cook/self-styled street samurai

Affiliation: N/A

Family: None; created in government experiment, donors of sperm and egg unknown

Theme Song: "Facepalm Mute" by Periphery

 

Description

Age: 17

Apparent Age: 17

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Italian

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 140 lbs.

Eyes: Green

Hair: Black

 

A thin young man, with long hair that goes down to his chin. He looks very Italian; the nose gives it away. His eyes are an unusually bright shade of green, hinting at his unnatural origins. In his civilian identity, he tends to wear T-shirts of his favorite bands, black jeans, and Converse sneakers. When he's doing his superhero thing--or "street samurai," as he likes to think of it--he wears all-black outfits that wouldn't look out of place in The Matrix, complete with longcoat and aviator shades. His shades are designed to stay on no matter what he's doing, which helps him protect his identity.

 

Power and Weapon Descriptions

The only powers of his with any visual flair are his healing factor and projectiles. For his healing factor, the area around his wounds glows neon green while the cells regenerate. The chi projectiles he uses as bullets glow a similar color. In terms of weapons, he wields two SIG Pro semi-automatic pistols.

 

History:

Brian Zangrando has been living on his own since at least the age of 16, working at a local pizza joint by day and fighting whatever crime he comes across at night. He dreams of emulating the heroes of his two favorite books, Neuromancer and Snow Crash, but he can't code for crap, so mainly he wanders the streets looking for trouble and calls himself a street samurai. He even takes his superhero alias from Neuromancer. However, he can barely remember anything from before he was 16. This puzzles him, but he doesn't worry about it. He has no idea about his family, his friends, where he went to school, or much of anything, really. He doesn't worry much about that, either--and it might be better that way for him.

 

What he doesn't know is that he was created by an intelligence agency that the US government doesn't even acknowledge exists. He was part of an experiment, grown rather than born, genetically engineered to be the perfect assassin. His engineering gave him the ability to access his chi to heal himself and enhance his attacks. He was trained for years in the killing arts until he was a one-man army who could take on ten soldiers at once and walk away unscathed--and if he did get hurt, he would be back in fighting form within minutes. However, the mental programming used to keep him in line broke, and one day he escaped out of the underground complex where he lived. The stress of the encounter caused him to forget everything about his past except for his name.

 

Now, after over a year and a half living in Freedom City, Brian wants to do something more than make pizza and stop muggers. He wants to do something big and make a name as a hero. The question is, how long will he have to wait? And will he learn things about his past he didn't want to?

 

Personality and Motivation

Before he escaped into the outside world, Brian was conditioned to be hyper-alert and use lethal force. These traits have imprinted on him; he constantly acts like he's on a caffeine rush, even when he hasn't had any caffeine or sugar. If someone gave him an energy drink, he'd probably go nuts. And while he's not about to go on any murdering sprees, he doesn't quite understand how hard he can hit. If not for the use of chi for ammunition, he'd probably have a body count in the double digits. He'll get more restrained as he undergoes character development. He has a decent capacity to learn new information and skills, but he can also be a bit dim at times. He's genuinely a kind and sociable person who can let go of a grudge easily enough.

 

He started getting into crimefighting purely for the thrill of it, but by the time he's introduced in the story, he's starting to seek a higher purpose. What that purpose is will depend on his early experiences and connections with other heroes, though it will have a bent towards defending freedom and standing up to authority regardless of who he runs with.

 

Powers and Battle Tactics

Brian is genetically modified so he can make use of his chi in combat. One way he uses it is through his healing factor. He can recover from minor wounds fairly quickly, and it takes multiple bullets to slow him down. However, he still has a tough time dealing with major injuries, and a mortal wound for a normal human (e.g., stabbed in the chest, shot in the head, crushed under a car, etc.) will still kill him. He can also create projectiles made of chi. The smaller the projectile, the less energy he needs. He uses this to provide himself with ammunition for his two guns. His chi is also useful for increasing the height and distance of his jumps, but this use doesn't create any neon glow.

 

Brian's training gave him enough skill with guns to wield two at once and be fairly accurate with it. The trick is that rather than try to aim and fire at two different targets at once, he points both guns in the same direction and fires them at the same time. He relies on the guns for attack, his parkour skills for mobility, and his healing factor for absorbing damage.

 

-----

 

Complications

Secret Identity: Brian tries to keep his life as Case Cobra separate from his civilian life. He doesn't think he has loved ones who'll be in danger as a result, but he does understand the problem of being easily tracked down.

Thrill-Seeker: As previously mentioned, Brian got into crimefighting for the thrill of it. He sometimes has too much fun in fights, which can lead him to try and pull off stylish maneuvers instead of being pragmatic.

Don't Call Me Irvine!: Brian hates his middle name, Irvine, and calling him by it sends him into a bit of a frenzy, which he will not calm down from until he gets a good punch in. A villain who knows his secret identity can trick him into losing his temper by calling him "Irvine."

Painful Memories: Discovering unpleasant memories of his past causes Brian to have a nervous breakdown, which he needs to be snapped out of by someone else. This is something even he doesn't realize yet. However, this can't happen with the same memory twice--once he snaps out of his mental break, he learns to accept the memory and move on from it.

Healing Factor Overdrive: Brian can accelerate his healing factor, but doing so can leave him Fatigued.

Accidental Assassin: Brian doesn't realize it, but his training has left its mark on his combat style. He fights to knock his opponents out, and he doesn't always know when to hold back. If he isn't careful, he could end up causing long-term injury to his opponents.

 

Stats

 

Abilities

6+10+4+4+2+4=30 PP

 

Strength: 16 (+3)

Dexterity: 20 (+5)

Constitution: 14 (+2)

Intelligence: 14 (+2)

Wisdom: 12 (+1)

Charisma: 14 (+2)

 

Combat

16+8=24PP

Initiative: +5

Attack: +8, +13 melee, +13 ranged

Grapple: +16

Defense: +6 (+4 base, Dodge Focus 2) (+2 flat-footed)

Knockback: -2

 

Saves

6+6+4=16 PP

 

Toughness: 10 (+2 Con, +8 defensive roll) (+2 flat-footed)

Fortitude: 8 (+2 Con, +6)

Reflex: 11 (+5 Dex, +6), Evasion 2

Will: 5 (+1 Wis, +4)

 

Skills

71R = 18PP

 

-Acrobatics 8 (+12)

-Bluff 8 (+10)

-Climb 4 (+7)

-Concentration 3 (+6)

-Drive 4 (+9)

-Intimidation 6 (+8)

-Investigation 6 (+6)

-Knowledge: Pop Culture 6 (+6)

-Notice 8 (+9)

-Sleight of Hand 6 (+11)

-Stealth 8 (+13)

-Swim 4 (+5)

 

Feats

17 PP

 

-Accurate Attack

-Defensive Roll 4

-Dodge Focus 2

-Equipment 5

-Evasion

-Improved Critical (Guns)

-Takedown

-Taunt

-Uncanny Dodge

 

 

Equipment

3PP=12EP

 

-Laptop [1EP]

-Cell Phone [1EP]

-Mitsubishi Eclipse [10EP]

 Size: Large, Strength=25, Speed=5, Defense = 9, Toughness = 8

 Features: Hidden Compartment (DC 20, 8 lbs.), Smokescreen

 AP: Obscure (10' wide, 50' long)

 

Powers

7+1+4+5=17 PP

 

-Dual SIG Pros 2 (10PP Device; Flaws: Easy-to-Lose; Power Feats: Multiple Weapons 1) [7pp] (twin semi-automatic pistols)

 Damage 5 (Extras: Ranged, Affects Objects, Power Feats: Accurate 1, Improved Critical 1) [10dp] (chi)

-Leaping 1 [1pp] (genetic)

-Super Movement 2 (Safe Fall, Swinging) [4pp] (training)

-Regeneration 5 (Ability Damage 3, Recovery Rate 2) [5pp] (chi)

 

DC Block

ATTACK                 RANGE    SAVE                                      EFFECT
Unarmed                Touch      DC15 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Physical)
Pistol Whip             Touch      DC18 Toughness (Staged)     Staggered

Pistol Shot              Ranged   DC20 Reflex (Staged)             Damage (Chi)

Double Pistol Shot  Ranged   DC25 Reflex (Staged)            Damage (Chi)

Pistol Burst             Ranged   DC25 Reflex (Staged)             Damage (Chi)

 

 

Total: Abilities 30 + Combat 24 + Saves 16 + Skills 18 + Feats 17 + Equipment 3 + Powers 17 = 125/150 PP

Edited December 7, 2014 by CoverAndFire

[Thevshi]

Hello CoverAndFire, welcome to the site!

I am going to move this over to Character Building, as there is some work to be done on the character, in large part due to needing to covert back to 2e from 3e.

One thing I should probably note is that this site has a solid “no killing†policy for PCs. We have PCs that have killed in the past, and that is fine. And there are some targets that are acceptable to “kill†such as robots, demons, the undead, but living criminals are generally not, except in very rare circumstances. Along those lines, characters that carry firearms (which are rare) are assumed to have them loaded with stun ammunition, so they are non-lethal.

So for the character’s crunch:

You need to take a look at some other character sheets, to see how we organize things and make some formatting adjustmnets.

Stats: (what you term abilities): you have only spent 26 pp on them.

What 3e terms Offense and Defense is a combination of Combat and Saving Throws in 2e.

For Combat, there are two main parts, Base Attack Bonus (BAB) and Base Defense Bonus (BDB). Each costs 2 pp per rank. There are feats that can add to each as well, but per our house rules, you need to buy at least a third of your total as the base. So, if you wanted a total attack bonus of +10, you need to buy at least +3 of it as BAB.

Saves is the Toughness save, as well as Fort (Con), Reflex (Dex) and Will (Wis) saves. Each of the later three (the exotic saves) are based on a stat (which I listed) and can be increased at a cost of 1 pp per +1. So, with Con of 14, your character has a base Fort save of +2, if you spend 4 pp on it, it becomes +6.

Skills:
In 2e, each pp spent on skills gives you 4 skill ranks. In addition, a lot of 3e skills don’t exist in 2e, or have different names. There is no Athletics (you would want either Climb or Swim, or a bit in both. Deception is Bluff in 2e. Perception is Notice. There is no Expertise skill, you would have Knowledge: Popular Culture. Vehicles would be Pilot.

Skills that are completely out are: Close Combat, Expertise: Weapons and Ranged Combat.

Feats:
In 2e, Advantages are called Feats.

This is a good start to work on before we get to other things.

[Brown Dynamite]

I think Vehicles would actually be Drive in this case.  Though when going back in editions it could be either/or.  Not sure if he wants to pilot a boat or plane.  I assumed it was over the car.

 

Now, I know you made an actual Scratchpad to handle this build after the fact and Thev missed it.  But her advice is on point.

 

Now as for those Feats.  I would be remiss if I didn't point out in our house rules, Defensive Roll actually gives a +2 to Defense.

 

Unlike 3e, you do have to define a single Accurate sense that your Uncanny Dodge applies to.

 

Now for skills, what Thev said rings true But also there is no Close Combat or Ranged Combat skill.  Those could be represented by Base Attack Bonus, the Attack Focus Feat (Melee) or (Ranged) or lastly Attack Specialization (With Chosen attack type .  Attack Focus gives a +1 with either Melee or Ranged Attacks.  Specialization gives a +2 with a chosen attack.  And Attack Bonus gives a +1 to your entire offensive attack bonus.

 

Expertise Cooking might be better served as Craft (Chemical) there is no Expertise Weapons.  And Knowledge (Pop Culture).

Edited November 28, 2014 by HG Morrison

[horngeek]

On a side note, if you only have the 3e book, get the 2e Player's Handbook ASAP, since that's the edition used here, and the differences are not small.  

 

You might also want to get Ultimate Power, but 2e Player's Handbook is fine if you don't have the opportunity to get UP right away.  

[Brown Dynamite]

Corebook.  2e, doesn't call it a Player's Handbook.

[horngeek]

Corebook, yeah.  Either way, good idea to get it and Ultimate Power.  

[CoverAndFire]

Hey guys. I've copied over the changes to Case's backstory to alter his stance on killing, change the bullets to chi-based ones, etc. I've found a PDF of 2e's corebook, which I'll be using as reference until I can find a physical copy.

 

As for Drive, I really do mean Drive. Case can't fly planes or helicopters or anything, which is what the handbook says Pilot is for. He starts out with a tuner car, which he's fairly skilled at driving. I can't see him piloting any air or space vehicles right now, but if another character teaches him how, then I'll add Pilot to his list of skills.

Also, how do I calculate the PP spent on skills and feats? I have no idea how either of them actually total up.

[horngeek]

Feats is a 1:1 feat per point.  

 

Skill is 1 pp for 4 skill points.  

[CoverAndFire]

So how do I calculate skill points? Is it one for each level in each skill? And are the bonuses just (STAT BOOST + ADDITIONAL PP SPENT)?

[horngeek]

1PP=4 Skill Ranks.  With the bonus for each skill being Skill Rank+Ability Bonus.  So, if someone has a +4 Int bonus and they have Knowledge (Popular Culture) at 10, then they roll 1d20+14 for any Knowledge (Popular Culture) checks.  

[CoverAndFire]

Okay, I've got the Skills section rearranged, and now everything adds up to exactly 150 PP. Is there anything else I should tweak before I re-submit my character?

[Raveled]

The biggest issue I see is that the character doesn't hit their combat caps. It's highly recommended that starting characters, especially at PL 10, hit the caps for Attack, Damage, Toughness, and Defense. Right now he is PL 9 offensively (Att +13, Dam +5) and PL 8 defensively (Def +6, Tou +10). I would recommend freeing up the points elsewhere on the build to boost your respective scores.

You have Evasion 2 listed up by your Saves. It shouldn't be there, and you only list Evasion 1 among your Feats.

You have Improved Critical in your Feats and Improved Critical in the Guns power itself. So do the guns have Improved Critical 2 overall? If you mean those to stack, you should say so.

[Thevshi]

So, looking things over, I only count 71 skill ranks spent, which is only 18 pp, (with 1 skill rank left to be spent). Also, you have a lot of the final totals for skills wrong, so need to check them and add the right stat bonus. (Ex: Climb should be 4 (+7))

So, you have quite a few more pp to spend, which could be used to help bring you up to your PL caps as Rav notes.

For you combat block. I see you spending 16 pp on BAB of +8, but I do not see you buying any feats that would improve your melee or ranged to +13, you would need to pick up Attack Focus either melee or ranged to improve the separate attacks (and it is actually pointless to pick up both individually, as if you were to get say Attack Focus: Melee 4 and Attack Focus: Ranged 4, you end up spending the same amount of points as just buying four more ranks of BAB). Also, with your Guns (might want a less generic name for his special pistols) your attack would right now be +10 (+8 BAB and the +2 Accuracy on the weapons themselves).

For your equipment, we generally do not make characters of average wealth buy laptops or cell phones. If your guy is struggling (as he is sort of on the run and just working making pizza), then he would need to buy them.

For your powers, you have priced the Guns incorrectly. (and refer to them as a device, not just a normal container). As a 2 rank device, they cost 3 pp each, plus one extra pp for the Multiple Weapons feat, for a total of 7 pp. For the Damage power, you do not need Affects Objects, as damage automatically effects objects.

The Movement should be Super Movement.

And for the Regeneration, you need to note how what the 3 ranks of improved time for Ability Damage recovery does (is it per minute, per round, something else?)

So, a few things to fix and a number of points still left to spend. I would suggest using those to bring yourself up to your PL caps.

[CoverAndFire]

Sorry I was gone so long. I take a schedule of mostly AP classes at school, so I haven't had much time to be here.

I'm not sure what I should rename the Guns. I mean, they're normal semi-automatic pistols; it's the ammunition for them that's unique. Should I make the name the model of gun Case uses?

 

Also, for the Improved Critical, I intend on the rank for Feat stacking with the rank on the guns. How do I indicate that on my sheet? And since my character apparently needs to buy his laptop and phone, will I need to get rid of one or both of those?

Edited December 7, 2014 by CoverAndFire

[Ari]

I should note that you have 3PP's worth of Equipment Points spent(1PP=5EP), but 5PP's worth available according to the Feats list. That would be 25EP, plenty for a few extra gadgets and maybe a small base of operations.

[CoverAndFire]

Sorry I was gone so long. School was rather hectic these last couple of weeks.

I've decided to leave behind the Case Cobra character for now. I still like the idea, but I don't think this incarnation quite cuts it. However, I would still like to play, and I've got some inspiration for a new character. I'll put what I've got so far in my Sketchbook thread. It won't be in hard statistics, but it will provide an idea of how the character operates, which can then be translated into actual numerical values.