Building my first character - feedback appreciated

[Neutius]

Hi all,

After joining the site five days ago, I've been brainstorming and developing my first character, at PL 10. I'm pretty satisfied with his current state, but I would like some feedback from more experienced members of the site (i.e. anyone with any experience at all )

My concept is a biomedical scientist who studied the electrical properties of the human body and their medical applications. Through some sort of accident (lightning hit his lab; faulty equipment; techno-curse; whatever) he was changed into living electrical energy. His new form, combined with his specialized knowledge, give him a range of bio-electrical powers, including movement and attack powers, but also some boosting and healing powers, and even the ability of assuming human form! Some of his powers are Innate, but if his Insubstantial would get nullified, he would/could lose his ability to assume and retain human form. Without his powers, he would just be a wimpy human scientist.

I'm not yet really familiar with the Freedom City setting, so I'm not quite sure how the character would fit in yet. I prioritized developing the concept and the character sheet.

Player Name: Neutius

Character Name: Dr. Volt

Power Level: (10) (138/150PP)

Trade-Offs: -1 Attack / +1 Damage; -5 Defense / +5 Toughness

Unspent Power Points: 12

In Brief: A biomedical researcher who gained a range of bio-electrical powers in a lab accident.

Complications:

Electric Form: Dr. Volt loses his powers of Flight and Teleport when stuck in his human form, and loses his power of Speed when stuck in electric form.

Electric Dependency: Needs to “feed†off a source of electricity. Going without for more than a day can lead to penalties at the GM’s discretion, such as reduced powers. Going without for more than a month may leave the character permanently depowered or worse.

Abilities: -2 + 2 + 10 + 6 + 4 - 2 = 18PP

Strength: 8 (-1)

Dexterity: 12 (+1)

Constitution: 20 (+5)

Intelligence: 16 (+3)

Wisdom: 14 (+2)

Charisma: 8 (-1)

Combat: 6 + 10 = 16PP

Initiative: +1

Attack: +3 Standard, +9 with Bio-electrical Control powers (Blast, Strike, Stun, Paralyze)

Grapple: -1

Defense: +5 (+5 Base), +2 Flat-Footed

Knockback: -2 natural/-7 with powers

Saving Throws: 3 + 8 + 3 = 14PP

Toughness: +15 (+5 Con, +10 Protection)

Fortitude: +8 (+5 Con, +3)

Reflex: +9 (+1 Dex, +8)

Will: +5 (+2 Wis, +3)

Skills: 48R = 12PP

Computers (Int) 2 (+5)

Concentration (Wis) 2 (+4)

Diplomacy (Cha) 1 (+0)

Drive (Dex) 2 (+3)

Investigate (Int) 2 (+5)

Knowledge (life sciences) 8 (+11)

Knowledge (physical sciences) 8 (+11)

Medicine (Wis) 8 (+10)

Notice (Wis) 4 (+6)

Profession (Scientist) (Wis) 3 (+5)

Search (Int) 4 (+7)

Sense Motive (Wis) 4 (+6)

Feats: 7PP

Accurate Attack

Eidetic Memory

Power Attack

Precise Shot

Teamwork 3

Powers: 20 + 4 + 10 + 7 + 13 + 3 + 21 = 78PP

Bio-electrical Body Array (19 pp Array; Feats: Alternate Power) [20 pp]

Base Power: Insubstantial 3 (electric energy; Feats: Selective; Extra: Continuous Duration) {19/19}

Alternate power: Immunity 10 (electric effects), 9 pp left - Immunity/Regeneration/Super-Senses/??? {10/19}

Immunity 4 (environmental conditions; disease; poison; starvation and thirst; Flaw: Limited (half)) [4 pp]

Protection 10 [10 pp]

Super-Senses 7 (Radio) [1 pp], Detect Electricity (Radio; Extras: Accurate, Acute, Extended, Radius, Ranged) [6 pp]) [7 pp]

Movement Array 5.5 (11 pp array; Feats: Alternate Power 2) [13 pp]

Base Power: Flight 4 (250 mph; extra: Continuous Duration (+1); drawback: low ceiling (30’)[-1 pp]) {11/11}

Alternate Power: Teleport 9 (20.000 miles; feats: change direction, change velocity; extra: accurate (+1), flaws: long range (-1), medium: electrical wires (-1)) {11/11}

Alternate power: Speed 5 (250 MPH; Feat: Progression (affects 2 others); Extra: Affect Others) {11/11}

Super-Movement 3 (Wall Crawling 3; Extra: Continuous Duration; Flaw: Limited to metal) [3 pp]

Bio-electrical Control Array 7 (14 pp Array, Feats: Alternate Power 7) [21 pp]

Base Power: Electric Aura 3 (Feats: Affect Insubstantial 2) {14/14}

Alternate Power: Electric Blast 11 (Feats: Accurate 3; Flaws: Distracting) {14/14}

Alternate Power: Electric Stun 11 (Feats: Accurate 3; Flaw: Distracting) {14/14}

Alternate Power: Electric Paralyze 11 (Feats: Accurate 3; Flaw: Distracting) {14/14}

Alternate Power: Electric Strike 11 (Feats: Accurate 3) {14/14}

Alternate Power: Boost Speed 6 (1.000 MPH; Feat: Slow Fade 2; Extras: Area (Burst), Selective; Flaw: Limited to Others) {14/14}

Alternate Power: Healing 4 (Feats: Stabilize, Persistent; Extras: Standard Action, Ranged; Flaw: Limited to Others) {14/14}

Alternate Power: Healing 7 (Extra: Resurrection; Flaw: Limited to Others) {14/14}

Drawbacks: (-3) + (-4) = -7PP

Vulnerability (Water; Frequency: Uncommon; Intensity: Major) [-3 pp]

Vulnerability (damage caused by conductive Metal, such as bullets, swords, or a metal creature’s physical attacks; Frequency: Very Common; Intensity: Moderate) [-4 pp]

Totals: Abilities (18) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (14) + Skills (12) + Feats (7) + Powers (78) - Drawbacks (7) = 138/150 Power Points

Edited March 16, 2015 by Neutius

[Neutius]

Stuff that has been noted and is being worked on:

- The Attack bonus coming completely from Power Feats is against the House Rules. I'm working on it.

- There are problems with the Continuous Innate Insubstantial power. I will probably remove all Innate feats from the character, and the complication of having his Human Form Nullified. I liked the concept, but it looks like it will be too complicated to execute properly.

I'm a little bit too tired and distracted to fix it all right now, though.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Neutius

[Ari]

Diehard comes free to every PC, no need to list it on the sheet.

[N/A]

At Insubstantial 3, you're automatically immune to energy of the type you're made of, so there's probably no need for the Immunity to Electricity damage.

Innate Protection is a bad idea. Even if you have Protection "naturally," like an armadillo's armor plates, those Protection ranks should still be able to be Drained by a Disintegration power. Innate is intended more for stuff like Additional Limbs, Growth, Shrinking, stuff that can't be "turned off" with a Nullify but would require Transform or +Attack Growth/Shrinking to change.

Radio-type senses are Acute, Radius, and Ranged by default, so you don't need to buy +Acute for his Radio.

The house rules for the site require at least 1/3 of your total attack and defense bonuses to come from Base Attack and Base Defense.

[Neutius]

Thanks for all the feedback! I changed his attack bonus, his attack powers (Accurate 3, Damage 11) and his Attack/Damage trade-off. I removed all Innate feats, and the complication related to his electric form being his "true" form. I removed the Diehard feat.

It is true that he is automatically immune to electric attacks when Insubstantial, but I also want him to be able to resist electricity when in human form (e.g. to prevent giving away his identity), so I made the Immunity an Alternate Power to his Insubstantial. Now I have some PP's left in the Alternate Power, still thinking about what I want to put there. Maybe some limited Regeneration?

According to UP, Radio Sense is ranged, radius and accurate, not acute. I actually took the acute out, but I will probably put it back in. I want his Detect Electricity to work via Radio, and be strong enough to sense small electrical currents in the human body.

I still have some questions, though.

1) I thought of the ability to boost Sense Motive through his Super-Senses, i.e. he sense the bio-electrical currents in human bodies and interprets those (hopefully correctly). Should I just bump his Sense Motive skill, or use the Enhanced Trait power?

2) How would a character like this fit in the setting, become a superhero, and meet the other PC's? Do you just call the Freedom League or a few famous Superheroes? Should I start as a solo hero, and meet some other heroes during an adventure? Can I just say "Dr. Volt has been fighting crime on the FCU campus for two months"? Does he post an ad?

Thanks in advance, looking forward to my first adventure. Cheers!

[Raveled]

Regeneration in an array is a headache and will probably be nixed by the refs. You could give him some Healing with the Source Flaw.

For becoming a hero, he can start out solo and meet people. Or yeah, you can say he's been fighting crime for the last exty time period.

[N/A]

That's a misprint. Kenson clarified many times in FAQs that Radio-type senses are Acute by default, not Accurate.

[Heritage]

Cool character! As Rav said, he can always meet other heroes in threads; new players are always welcome, and most established heroes are more than willing to show the new guy the ropes.

[Thevshi]

Good start on a character Neutius. Some comments for you:

Abilities: nothing really wrong there, but is there a particular reason why he is weaker than an average person and not very personable (low charisma)?

Combat: Grapple would be +2, not -1 (as you at least have +3 base attack)

Feats: While not really an issue, I was wondering what the reasoning for having Teamwork 3 is? That sort of represents someone that has had a lot of experience working with others.

Powers: You have priced Insubstantial wrong. It is 5 pp per rank, so with the extra that is 20 pp, plus one more for the feat = 21 pp. As for the alt power off that, you can maybe add some additional immunities (maybe make the ones you have outside the array full?), but, you do not always have to spend every single point in each alt slot.

Immunities: this would be Immunity 8, as that is how many different immunities you have. Also, should note you have half immunity to "all" environmental conditions, just to be clear.