The one where Waverider is looked over

[EternalPhoenix]

Player Name: Eternal Phoenix

Character Name: Waverider

Power Level: 7 (105/105 PP)

Trade-Offs: +2 Damage, -2 Attack(Blast & Drain); +2 Attack, -2 Damage (Nauseate); +2 Toughness, -2 Defense

Unspent PP: 0

Progress towards Bronze: 0

 

In Brief: Normal teenage girl with dreams of deaf advocacy back slapped by irony, becomes deaf and mute vibration controller.

 

Alternate Identites: Naomi Suleiman

Identity: Secret

Birthplace: Los Angeles, California

Occupation: Student

Affliations: Spectacle (Los Angeles street level hero), Claremont Academy in general

Family: Father Suleiman (a lawyer), Mother Suleiman (a doctor), Older Sister Suleiman (currently Pre-Med and engaged), Little Brother Suleiman (elementary school student)

 

Age: 16

Apparent Age: 16

Gender: Female

Ethnicity: Indian-American

Height: 5’ 5”

Weight: 110

Eyes: Dark Brown

Hair: Black

 

Description: Naomi is of Indian descent, which means chocolate skin and straight jet black hair. She keeps her hair cut just above her shoulders and her makeup is on the minimal side. Her clothes are quite preppy and put together. Usually a ruffled shirt and cute skirt with some ballet flats and tasteful jewelry. As being a superhero wasn’t in her future plans until relatively recently, she wears a variation on the standard Claremont uniform. The tights have been replaced by relatively loose fitting slacks of the same material. The top is a bit looser of a fit, as well.

 

History: Naomi was born in Los Angeles. No one knew it, but she’d been absorbing vibrations since she was a small bundle of cells in her mother’s womb. Which made the pregnancy slightly more…interesting…than most, but caused no real complications. Growing up, she was the source of the occasional mysterious loud bang, which gradually made her persona non grata among her peers. There were some earthquake scares as well (which really didn’t help), but those weren’t traced to her until later. However, there was one group that didn’t reject her for the occasional weirdness that surrounded her. They were the deaf and hearing impaired kids at her school. So she made friends, and learned sign language explicitly so she could talk to them. She was a normal kid, doing normal kid things.

 

Then it happened. Summer break, 2014. Naomi was waiting for a friend downtown, having planned a beach day. They had agreed to meet at a parking garage, but her friend was late. So she’d stepped into the shade of the parking garage to wait. She felt the vibrations (not that she knew what they were at the time) churn inside her. This had happened many times before. See the mysterious loud noises and odd earthquake scares. The problem was that these were much stronger than before. They…hurt. She leaned against the wall of the parking garage. Her skin touched it, and instantly the mysterious force inside of her ripped its way out, with all the pain that verb implies. It was a sound and quake burst, at the same time, and with more force that she could conceive of. Her eardrums burst immediately. The cilla in her inner ear were smashed down. The bones in her inner ear shattered. The pain was immense. No one wouldn’t have screamed. Unfortunately, that was the last thing she should’ve done. The vibrations had found an easier way out, and tore her larynx to shreds on the way.

 

No parking garage, even in Los Angeles, is built to take that kind of strain. Hell, the surrounding buildings were in trouble. Naomi might have even triggered a real earthquake and endangered the entire city. Except there just happened to be a hero in the area. Spectacle. Claremont class of 2008. The name…didn’t fit his powers. He was stronger, faster, and more durable than any unarmored human could possibly be, but it was his power of infinite capacity (but not infinite rate) energy absorption that saved the day. He chucked his groceries aside, and dove in to save a girl who was having a very bad day. He saved the city. He saved the neighborhood. He saved the girl. He even saved the parking garage attendant. Unfortunately, he couldn’t save the parking garage. It collapsed, crushing all the cars inside of it. Spectacle was not an idiot. He knew the girl, now unconscious, would be blamed. This wasn’t Freedom City. She ought to get away from the justice system, but the civil suits and media coverage would destroy her family. So he got gone, and fast. He dropped her off at a hospital in another district.

 

Spectacle poked his head in now and again, while Naomi was recovering, making it clear in no uncertain terms that they needed to have a conversation. Something Had To Be Done, and such like. When they finally had it, she anxiously begged him not to ship her away just yet. Her parents would never allow it. She had friends here. She was still adjusting to her new life. And so on. He actually had no intention of doing that (otherwise he’d have spoken with someone at Claremont by now), but watched the girl squirm under the idea before announcing he’d train her. Spectacle always wanted a sidekick, after all. When Naomi protested even that much, he told her it was either that or being shipped away. He knew of someone who could be very persuasive, if it came to that. And so Waverider was born. After school training. The occasional easy mission. That sort of thing. When it came down to it, Spectacle was a good teacher, and his energy absorption and overall toughness helped make up for any…mistakes along the way. Until, around the end of the school year, he realized his pupil was growing past his skills. It was sad, but he had to revisit their initial Something Had To Be Done conversation.

 

During this time, Naomi had gotten to know him, and on the whole he wasn’t a bad guy. A skilled and effective hero, who just so happened to be exasperatingly easygoing about everything under the sun. That said his relaxed deadpanning of virtually everything was funny when directed at others. Such as whoever was on the other end at that superhero school he was talking about. Leaving might not be so bad. Her family had grown a bit distant from her, which made some sense. She couldn’t hear them anymore, and sign language was a pain in the butt to learn without a powerful motivation and sufficient spare time to do so. She knew that from personal experience. She also knew the person on the other end of that call (who was growing ever more exasperated, a position with which she both sympathized and found funny) would easily persuade her parents to let her go. And honestly? The prospect was a little exciting now. Sure, leaving her friends would be sad. But she’d be going to a place where she didn’t have to hide her powers from everyone around her. She didn’t have to pretend she didn’t notice when people spoke to her. And, like virtually every teenager ever born, she was always up for a bit of an adventure.

.

Personality & Motivation: Naomi isn’t one of those ultra-driven hero types. She’s a good person, and she’ll help out people in trouble, but her sights remain set squarely on her dream of being a lawyer who advocates for deaf rights. Maybe even politics, if she can swing it. In the meantime, she’s got no problem with the Wake Up, Go To School, Save The World thing. She’s…rather remarkably well adjusted, actually. She’s calm, rational, and only dwells on the things she can change. This doesn’t mean she doesn’t get frustrated, anxious, or depressed, but that she’s learned to deal with such emotions in a way that stops them from inhibiting her life.

 

Power Descriptions: Naomi is a vibration controller. She can theoretically induce, increase, or reduce vibrations in virtually any material. As sound is simply vibration that can be heard by humans, she can manipulate that as well, although somewhat less effectively at present. She has a personal force field made of high resonance vibrations to protect her. She does not, however, generate the vibrations out of nothing. In fact, her body absorbs and stores vibratory energy for later use. This renders her immune to vibratory (and thus sonic) attacks of any kind, and provides a measure of defense against bludgeoning attacks. She can feel vibrations on her skin, as well. Practice allows to even differentiate between people’s voices. However, actually telling what they’re saying on a consistent basis is currently beyond her, and thus she must lip read or have the speaker(s) use sign language instead.

 

Powers & Tactics: Naomi is essentially a blaster. She’s got a few neat tricks, like deadening the sound in an massive area, increasing the vibrations in a target’s inner ear to sickening levels, or unleashing a deafening wall of sound in a small area. However, the core of all of that is blasting away with vibratory energy. With both Accurate Attack and Power Attack she can shift the damage and accuracy of her attacks around, so it’s not quite as one dimensional as it sounds. Her force field is stops bullets with little effort, and it’d take a very powerful blunt strike to get past her absorption and the field. And, of course, vibratory/sonic attacks are entirely useless, as she absorbs them.

 

Complications:

 

I’m Sorry, I Didn’t Catch That: In a quiet room, Naomi has no need to lip read. Her ability to feel vibrations works perfectly fine as a replacement for hearing voiced conversations. It’s Distracting for her to do so, due to the concentration necessary, but she can do it. Unfortunately, superheroic life generally does not occur in quiet rooms. Anywhere else, she MUST lip read to supplement her power. Equally unfortunately, that’s not always possible, especially in the middle of combat. The GM may award a hero point whenever Waverider misses a vital piece of information in this way.

 

Sound, How Does It Work?: Naomi’s illusion power sounds absolutely wonderful on paper.  She has a voice again. Hooray! Yeah…about that… She flatly lacks the fine control required to do that, as she 1) can’t actually hear the sound she’s making and 2) is working from a vastly different apparatus than a larynx. What she’s doing is copying the way other sounds feel. Due to the way her powers work, that…might not actually be sound that humans can hear. Or the volume can be wrong in either direction. Or oopsie, that’s the “incoherent rage” note. Or the mythical “brown” note. And so on, and so forth. A GM may award a hero point whenever a use of Waverider’s illusion power doesn’t work out precisely as intended.

 

Bad Vibrations: Naomi’s powers run on vibratory energy, such as sound. Her body is constantly absorbing such energy from the environment. However, she has an upper limit to the amount she can absorb. Reaching it triggers a devastating Burst Area of vibratory energy (rank 15 damage at least) to explode from her body, instantly and agonizingly depleting her reserves (making her stunned from the pain). Therefore, from time to time she must release some lest this happen. Conversely, she can use up her reserves in combat (repeatedly Power Attacking and/or taking lots of hits to her force field) rendering her attack array and force field useless until she absorbs enough energy to use them again. A GM may award a hero point for either of these situations occurring.

 

No, I Don’t Know That Guy From That Show: Naomi is of Indian descent. Both parents were born and raised in India, and immigrated later. Americans have some…unfortunate misconceptions about the Indian people. And others can…mistake her ethnicity for another one, such as Arabic. That’s without getting into the fact that she does not, in fact, practice Hindism or Islam, the two dominant religions of India. She’s agnostic, thank you very much. No, her parents don’t approve. A GM may award a hero point for Waverider having to deal with the ignorant and/or prejudiced.

 

Abilities: 0+4+4+2+2+4=16

 

Strength 10 (+0)

Dexterity 14 (+2)

Constitution 12 (+2)

Intelligence 12 (+1)

Wisdom 12 (+1)

Charisma 14 (+2)

 

Combat: 6+4=10

Initiative: +2 (+2 Dex)

Attack: +3 (+5 Ranged, +9 Nauseate)

Grapple: +3

Defense:  +5 (+2 Base, + 3 Dodge Focus, +1 Flat Footed)

Knockback: -8 w/ Force Field, -1 without

 

Saving Throws: 3+3+6=12

Toughness: +9 (+2 Con, +7 Force Field)

Fortitude:  +5 (+2 Con, +3)

Reflex:  +5 (+2 Dex, +3)

Will: +7 (+1 Wis, +6)

 

Skills: 44 SP= 11PP

Bluff 5 (+7)

Concentration 7 (+8)

Diplomacy 6 (+8)

Knowledge (civics) 7 (+8)

Knowledge (current events) 4 (+5)

Language 1 (American Sign Language; English Base)

Notice 7 (+8)

Sense Motive 7 (+8)

 

Feats: 9PP

Accurate Attack

Attack Focus (ranged) 3

Dodge Focus 3

Power Attack

Precise Shot

Uncanny Dodge (tactile)

 

Powers: 14+10+3+5+23=55

Force Field 7 (Extra: Impervious) [14PP] (Vibration Field)

 

Immunity 10 (Vibration/Sonic) [10PP]

 

Immunity 5 (Bludgeoning Damage; Flaw: Limited – Half Effect) [3PP]

 

Super Senses 5 (Accurate Acute Extended Ranged Tactile) [5PP] (Vibration Feeling)

 

Vibration Control 9 [23PP]

 

[array]AP: Drain Toughness 9 Extras: Affects Objects [Only], Range [ranged]) [1PP]

 

AP: Illusion 7 (Auditory; Power Feats; Progression, Area 4 [100ft]; Extra: Selective Attack) [1PP]

 

AP: Nauseate 5 (Power Feats: Accurate 2; Extra: Range [ranged]) [1PP]

 

AP: Obscure 8 (Auditory, 1000 ft radius; Extra: Selective Attack) [1PP]

 

AP: Sonic Control 6 (30 ft radius; Extra: Selective Attack) [1PP] [/array]

 

 

Drawbacks: -4-4=-8

 

Disability (Deafness) Very Common, Moderate [-4PP]

 

Disability (Mute)  Very Common, Moderate [-4PP]

 

 

 

DC Block:

 

Unarmed (+3 Hit, Melee, DC 15 Toughness)

Vibration Control (+5 Hit, Ranged, DC 24 Toughness)

Drain Toughness (+5 Hit, Ranged, DC 19 Fortitude [Objects only!])

Nauseate (+9 Hit, Ranged, DC 15 Fortitude)

Sonic Control (30 ft Burst Area, DC 16 Reflex)

Abilities 16 + Combat 10 + Saving Throws 12 + Skills 11 + Feats 9 + Powers 55– Drawbacks 8= 105/105