pc Oracle (PL10) - Shojikitsune

[shojikitsune]

Player Name: Shojikitsune
Character Name: Oracle
Power Level: 10 (150 PP)
Trade-offs: None
Unspent Power Points: 0
Progress to Bronze Status: 0/30

 

In brief: A wild talent psychic with telepathic powers, teleportation and more...
Residence: Southside, Freedom City, NJ – attending Claremont & residing on campus
Base of Operations: Freedom City, NJ
Catchphrase: “Also? I can kill you with my brain..."

 

Alternate Identity: Zephyr Brooks
Identity: Public
Birthplace: Freedom City, NJ
Occupation: Student (Claremont)

Affiliations: Nicholson School, Claremont Academy

 

Family: Trevor and Michiko Brooks (Parents), Melvin Brooks (Uncle)

 

Description:

Age: 16 (DOB: Friday, November 13, 1998)
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Asian/Caucasian
Height: 5’ 1”
Weight: 115 lbs.
Eyes: Lavender, glowing yellow when using her powers
Hair: Black, straight, middle of back/long

Oracle is a young woman of mixed Japanese and Caucasian heritage, with pale skin, long black hair, and dark eyes. She hasn't decided on a costume, so is often encountered in her blouse, tie, skirt, leggings and dress shoes. When she is wearing ordinary clothes, they still tend to be black. Black pants, black shirts, even experimenting with black lipstick and strong eyeliner sometimes.

Possible costume she's working on:

History:

Zephyr was born into an average, boring, middle-class household, and was an unusually quiet child. She would, for example, cry until one of her parents came to see what the problem was… and as soon as they would decide to come check her, she’d stop crying, as if she *knew* her message had been received. Her parents had to deal with hearing her cry when one of them was at work, but at first chalked it up to memory rather than telepathy. It became more unnerving when she began to talk – because sometimes, a parent that wasn’t with her would hear her ask them something, and sometimes if they thought of the answer or even said it aloud, she’d thank them. When she was just a few years old, she asked about all the other ‘voices’, and wondered why so much loud talking was going on… but there weren’t people there to talk to, and when she reached out to these other voices, she triggered fear and shock.

Her parents, fearing the worst, took her to a mental hospital to be evaluated. Fortunately, the doctor that examined Zephyr managed to diagnose her ‘mental issue’. She wasn’t hearing ‘voices’ - she was hearing *thoughts*. Simple experiments proved that Zephyr was a powerful telepath. She was taught ways to calm her mind using yoga, and ‘reduce the range’ of effect so she could get a break from the noise.

Her parents finally understood the problem, and enrolled her at the Nicholson School, and from there she went on to the Claremont Academy. There was the usual teasing, including someone thinking that calling her Wednesday Addams would somehow offend her. Instead, she came to school dressed exactly like Wednesday for a whole week. Her unstable mental powers did cause some trouble but the story was a sidebar in the local paper and didn’t generate a lot of public interest. After all, there was no shortage of heroes that *did* chase the limelight. She transferred to Claremont just recently, but has avoided attention as her powers are just now stablizing. She also has an uncle, her father’s older brother, who lives close to the school and has declared that he will spoil her and send her back to her family. But he is just a loveable old man.

Personality and Motivation:

Oracle is a calm, poised, rational young lady, and that’s how she behaves. She never raises her voice, swears, or acts undignified, even in dreadful circumstances. She calmly walks through raging fights, targeting and shutting down the ones with violence on the brain. She has no compulsion about letting someone else do the actual fighting, preferring instead to support and coordinate efforts. That be said, her psychic sensitivity means she tends to be a deadpan snarker, calling people on their mistakes with little decorum because she *knows* what is inside their heads.

Although young, the only thing that alleviates the pressure of all the thoughts around her is to do something, anything, to help them turn positive. Despite dressing and sometimes acting like a depressed emo teen, she isn’t a fan of negative emotions. That’s ironic, since she can generate those emotions and broadcast them, weakening a target’s will. She is getting better at screening thoughts, and so isn’t unduly influenced by the darker ones anymore, but that took time. She is still something of a deadpan snarker, trying to lighten the mood with bad puns, sarcastic quips and other statements. Her motivation is to gain mastery over her powers, and then see what she really can do. Being a hero tests her limits, develops positive emotions, and goes a long way towards overcoming her previous awkwardness. And it creeps out bad guys, so win-win, right?

Powers and tactics:

When you know what your opponent is thinking, it’s easy to be ahead of them the whole time. Oracle took the code name because she often predicts an opponent’s move *while they are doing it* and explains why it won’t work due to the counter she already put into place. Oracle can serve as a communications center, ranged support or mix it up in close combat with equal aplomb.

Concept: Oracle is a hodgepodge of my favorite DC characters – Raven, Ace and Tamara Coulder. I wanted to envision what might have happened if these characters had grown up in a warmer, more supportive environment, where their powers could develop naturally. So, she doesn’t have the tragedy the others had… but she’s not as strong as any of them either. However, after numerous attempts at making a true precog/telepath/telekinetic, I was spreading myself too thin, so i used trollthumper's combat psychic (http://www.freedomplaybypost.com/topic/5825-trollthumpers-cave/?do=findComment&comment=168857) and changed the Container from a combat suit to a ring, the Protection to a Force Field, and the Instant Change to a short range Teleport. I also reduced her Str to 10 so I could have Teleport at Rank 2. This version has no telekinetic powers, although her improved physical defenses all have a Mental descriptor since her mind is her power source.

 

Power Descriptions:

Zephyr is a powerful telepath, far out of her age groups normal range. She is constantly bombarded by outside thoughts, and won’t hesitate to comment aloud on something someone else only thinks, which tends to be delivered in a creepy deadpan that Wednesday Addams would approve of. Zephyr was born with her powers, but they didn’t stabilize until recently, instead coming and going mysteriously. She believes it’s linked to her physical development and is kind of concerned. She’d be considered a wild talent or random mutation, a one-off chance development of more than merely mortal mental might! (Amazing alliteration!) Recently, using a form of meditation and a jeweled ring as a focus, she's been able to develop very limited telekinetic abilities, such as a force field and the ability to 'move at thought' or teleport short distances.

Offensively, Oracle seems to always know what’s going on. She tracks people by their mental energy as well as their physical position in the world, has an uncanny awareness of people since she can sense their minds as they come close. It makes it very hard to sneak up on her – but not impossible.

 

Complications

WITH GREAT Power:  Zephyr’s family had a profound influence on the young girl, including the somewhat clichéd lecture regarding power and responsibility. It was something stable to grab at when her mind was being overwhelmed with other people’s thoughts and fears. (Motivation – Responsibility of Power)

Hey! I recognize you!:  Although not as public a figure as many heroes, Oracle/Zephyr is known locally and this has let her put off designing a costume. (Public Identity)  

 

Abilities: -2 + 4 + 4 + 6 + 6 + 4 = 22 PP
Strength 8 (-1)
Dexterity 14 (+2)
Constitution 14 (+2)
Intelligence 16 (+3)
Wisdom 16 (+3)
Charisma 14 (+2)

 

Combat: 10 + 12 = 22 PP
Attack: +5
Defense: +10 (+6 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed
Initiative: +11
Grapple: +4
Knockback: -5/-1

Saving Throws: 5 + 5 + 5 = 15 PP
Toughness: +10/+2 (+2 CON, +8 Force Field)
Fortitude: +7 (+2 CON, +5)
Reflex: +7 (+2 CON, +5)
Will: +8 (+3 WIS, +5)

 

Skills: 56r = 14 PP
Bluff 7 (+9)
Concentration 8 (+11)
Diplomacy 8 (+10)
Gather Information 8 (+10)
Knowledge (current events) 4 (+7)
Knowledge (tactics) 7 (+10)
Notice 7 (+10)
Sense Motive 7 (+10)

 

Feats: 13 PP
Benefit (use Knowledge [tactics] for Initiative)
Challenge (Fast Feint, Fast Taunt) 2
Dodge Focus 4
Evasion
Master Plan 2
Taunt
Uncanny Dodge (mental)
Well-Informed

Powers: 14 + 44 + 6 = 65 PP

Protection Ring, Rank 3 Device (15 PP, Hard-to-Lose) (Descriptor:Mental, Power Feats: Restrictive 2) [14 PP]

Force Field 8 [8 PP]
Teleport 3 (Power Feat: Change Velocity) [7 PP]

Mental Mastery, 40 PP Array (Descriptor: Mental; Power Feats: Alternate Power 5; Drawback: Noticeable ) [44 PP]

Base: Mental Blast 10 Damage 10 ( Extras: Alternate Save [Will], Mental [+0], Range 2 [Perception]) [40 PP]
Alternate Power: Emotion Control 10 (Extras: Area Burst, Selective Attack ) [40 PP]
Alternate Power: Mind Control 10 (Extras: Conscious, Effortless) [40 PP]
Alternate Power: Paralyze 10 (Extras: Range [Perception]) [40 PP]
Alternate Power: Telekinesis 10 (Extras: Perception Ranged, Damaging [40 PP]

       (Effective Str up to 50, 4/8/12/24/60 tons, May Attack or Grapple at TK Rank (+10) instead of using Attack rank, does damage as if Str)
Alternate Power: Telepathy 10 (Extras: Area Burst, Sensory Link) [40 PP]

Super-Senses 6 (Accurate Acute Ranged Radius Mental) [6 PP]

Abilities (22) + Combat (22) + Saving Throws (15) + Skills (14) + Feats (13) + Powers (64)  = 150 PP

                                                                             DC BLOCK

ATTACK                RANGE                           SAVE                                             EFFECT                             
Unarmed                Touch                             DC25 Toughness (Staged)           Damage (Physical)
Emotion Control     Perception                     DC20 Will                                       Emotion Control (Psionic)
Mental Blast           Perception                      DC25 Will (Staged)                        Damage (Psionic)
Telekinesis              Ranged  (Str 50            DC25 Fort                                       Str 50  (Psionic)
Mind Control           Perception                     DC20 Will                                        Emotion Control (Psionic)
Paralyze                 Perception                     DC20 Will                                        Paralyze (Psionic)

Edited July 14, 2015 by shojikitsune
Corrected tags.

[Brown Dynamite]

Your Grapple Score is really  4.  Fixed that for you while writing out your DC Block

So if the ring is some sort of telekinetic focus why can she use it to teleport instead of something telekinetic like flight?

 

[shojikitsune]

The ring's a mental focus, but not strictly a telekinetic one. The way I see it, Oracle has 3 power 'trees', and they are loosely based on Freudian concepts of id, ego and superego. The id controls emotions, and is her most developed 'tree'. This is reflected in her Mental array. Ego is the self, and includes all sorts of defense mechanisms, and this is where some of her mental array comes from - like Mind Control, where her ego directs and suppresses that of her target. The superego is the part of her mind that interacts with the physical world, boosting her Defense and Saves well  above average as a defensive mechanism.
This also includes her potential for the various telekinetic abilities and her Mental Awareness.

The ring lets her tap into her developing telekinetic abilities to generate the force field (superego), but it also lets her draw on the powers of the 'now' from the Id, where there are no concepts of time and space and direct them through the ego, which *does* understand these things/ Teleportation reflects this movement linked to the Now better than a telekinetic Flight concept. I also plan on eventually buying Precognition, Postcognition and ESP, based on the theory that the ID has no sense of time or space, everything everywhere is equally relevant. Of course, they will be loaded with limitations, (extra Effort, Concentration, Unreliable) since her brain isn't free to immediately trans locate in time and space. She just doesn't have the multitasking abilities to exist at every point everywhere, everywhen.

tl;dr version: she is moving at the 'speed of thought' and can't interact with the world around her, so teleport defined it better than TK flight, and the points were in the device because 1) the Device container was already set up in trollthumper's template, and 2)it's more than just a TK Device, just like a powered armor suit is more than just a Protection Device. Hope that helps.

[Brown Dynamite]

The only fluff on the page for the ring had it described as TK focus.  (Though TT's device was a bodysuit in his template if you wanted to go another way you could!).

Anyways, fine with me we have the fluff for reference on your answer so here's your first.

APPROVED

[Avenger Assembled]

Looks fun! 

Where'd she get the ring? 

[shojikitsune]

Ring came from her great-grandmother's heirloom collection. A great grandmother who used her empathic powers and precognition as "Oracle" in the late 30s and mid 40's? Although Zephyr doesn't know about this? Plot hook?!

[Avenger Assembled]

Done! 
APPROVED