Wonder Woman's Equipment?

[171akup]

I do not need a build for her just an idea and stats for her equipment specifically her lasso and bracelets. Also a flying machine at most Renaissance era that can go invisible and any other equipment. :smallbiggrin:

[khadgar567]

I do not need a build for her just an idea and stats for her equipment specifically her lasso and bracelets. Also a flying machine at most Renaissance era that can go invisible and any other equipment. :smallbiggrin:

Well considering whole olympian pantheon blesses her. I give her bracelets flat +16 as armor plus she just wears leather leotard for her lasso that thing basicly item based zone of truth

[Fouredged Sword]

Yeah, epic bracers of armor and a lasso that is a use activated irresistible zone of truth. For the invisible plane just crack open the stronghold builders guide and get ready to permanency some invisibility spells.

[SimonMoon6]

It also depends *which* Wonder Woman. While the post-Crisis Wonder Woman's lasso is merely an item that commands the truth from someone, the original Wonder Woman had a lasso that caused the victim to obey the wielder's every command, so that would be more like Dominate Monster. Also, the original lasso was indestructible (so, an artifact) and could stretch as far as needed; the post-Crisis Wonder Woman's lasso was only hard to damage (so like a +5 weapon) but could be cut by powerful enough items/people.

But if you're using the post-Crisis Wonder Woman, she didn't really have an invisible plane (until she got the shape-changing invisible spaceship which could become a plane), so if you're going for the classic "invisible plane" Wonder Woman, you need the original lasso, not the mere truth lasso.

[khadgar567]

It also depends *which* Wonder Woman. While the post-Crisis Wonder Woman's lasso is merely an item that commands the truth from someone, the original Wonder Woman had a lasso that caused the victim to obey the wielder's every command, so that would be more like Dominate Monster. Also, the original lasso was indestructible (so, an artifact) and could stretch as far as needed; the post-Crisis Wonder Woman's lasso was only hard to damage (so like a +5 weapon) but could be cut by powerful enough items/people.

But if you're using the post-Crisis Wonder Woman, she didn't really have an invisible plane (until she got the shape-changing invisible spaceship which could become a plane), so if you're going for the classic "invisible plane" Wonder Woman, you need the original lasso, not the mere truth lasso.
The thing is in dc universe only thing can effectifly stop her is either deus ex machina or darkseid ex machina so its prety hard to put hard cap on her power in d&d

[LoyalPaladin]

Well considering whole olympian pantheon blesses her. I give her bracelets flat +16 as armor plus she just wears leather leotard for her lasso that thing basicly item based zone of truth
That's pretty intense. Just by searching Google, it looks like there are Bracers of Epic Armor, but they only go to +15 and cost a whopping 2,250,000 gp.


lasso that is a use activated irresistible zone of truth.
Huh. That would work.

[ExLibrisMortis]

It depends a bit on the level you're talking, since there are different scales for power (tier 5 and tier 1, for example). Epic items are probably not required, just go with +8 bracers of armour that also happen to be a +5 ring of deflection and +5 amulet of natural armour, or an augmented force screen plus inertial armour power, or something like that. It'll be a long while before you're better off buying epic items, with the x10 cost multiplier and the epic feat requirement making things hard.

For example, a 17 pp force screen offers a +8 shield bonus, a 17 pp inertial armour offers a +12 armour bonus, and a CL 12 barkskin plus CL 3 scintillating scales offers a +5 deflection bonus. As permanent universal/wondrous items, they cost 17 * 1 * 2000 * 2 = 68.000, 17 * 1 * 2000 = 34.000, 12 * 2 * 2000 * 1.5 = 72.000 and 3 * 2 * 2000 * 2 = 24.000 gp respectively, for a total of 198.000 gp (if you're allowed to add them together to one item for no extra cost, of course - claim it takes both ring slots, bracers and gloves). I'm not sure there isn't a better way than barkskin + scintillating scales, but shield of faith requires CL 18 and doesn't last as long as barkskin, and mental barrier is a third-level power with a one-round duration.

[SimonMoon6]

The thing is in dc universe only thing can effectifly stop her is either deus ex machina or darkseid ex machina so its prety hard to put hard cap on her power in d&d

Nah, Wonder Woman's totally stoppable. The Golden Age Wonder Woman could be beaten by the typical "treacherous blow" to the back of the head. And then, if a man (not a robot, not a woman, etc) chains her bracelets together, she loses all her powers. The Silver/Bronze Age Wonder Woman was only a bit more powerful defense-wise. And even the post-Crisis Wonder Woman (who for some reason, despite not being invulnerable, was often touted as DC's "second most powerful hero"... which is true only if you ignore all the other heroes at Superman's power level) is easily harmed. She needs bracelets to deflect bullets because she can be harmed by bullets. Cheetah's claws are capable of hurting her.

Lots of stuff can do damage to her. She's totally stoppable (except in the sense that no superhero will ever fail utterly and completely simply because they are heroes; even a wimp like Batman tends not to lose, even fights he ought to).

Of course, that may not apply to the new52's crazy wrong-headed vision of what Wonder Woman should be (aka "Superman's Girlfriend, Wonder Woman"). I don't know, I haven't been reading it.

[FocusWolf413]

Her sword is a +6 Keen Metalline Sure Striking Blessed arming sword.

[Âmesang]

That's pretty intense. Just by searching Google, it looks like there are Bracers of Epic Armor, but they only go to +15 and cost a whopping 2,250,000 gp.
They only go to "+15" because there's only so much space to list stuff. :smallsmile: Technically epic items have no limit to bonuses/abilities. You could even have bracers of epic armor +100… so long as you have the skill, time, and money required to craft it (100,000,000 gp market price, right? So that should take approximately 27⅓ years to craft [assuming one has the Efficient Item Creation feat] and require the expenditure of 1,010,000 XP).

[Hecuba]

And even the post-Crisis Wonder Woman (who for some reason, despite not being invulnerable, was often touted as DC's "second most powerful hero"... which is true only if you ignore all the other heroes at Superman's power level) is easily harmed. She needs bracelets to deflect bullets because she can be harmed by bullets. Cheetah's claws are capable of hurting her.

2nd most powerful is certainly a stretch (especially when Superman canonically considers the Martian Manhunter to be more powerful than him in that period).

I think you're overselling, though, a bit how vulnerable she was post-crisis. It's more or less just puncture wounds she had issues with. She could be cut or shot, but had immense resilience against other forms of injury. She also wipes the floor with people who are physically at Superman's level (ex: Power Girl) a few times by simply being a better fighter.

By way of example, read Rucka's run just prior to Infinite Crisis.
The best example is probably the fight with Superman (who mind controlled by Max Lord at the time).
Superman was under the impression, at the time, that he was fighting Darkseid (and that Darkseid had enslaved and mind-controlled Lois).

At one point in this fight, they fight in the corona of the Sun and Superman punches her back to Earth. Superman certainly has the upper hand throughout the fight, but if she were not VERY durable she would not have lasted long enough to get to Max and stop the mind control.

[Platymus Pus]

It also depends *which* Wonder Woman. While the post-Crisis Wonder Woman's lasso is merely an item that commands the truth from someone, the original Wonder Woman had a lasso that caused the victim to obey the wielder's every command, so that would be more like Dominate Monster. Also, the original lasso was indestructible (so, an artifact) and could stretch as far as needed; the post-Crisis Wonder Woman's lasso was only hard to damage (so like a +5 weapon) but could be cut by powerful enough items/people.

But if you're using the post-Crisis Wonder Woman, she didn't really have an invisible plane (until she got the shape-changing invisible spaceship which could become a plane), so if you're going for the classic "invisible plane" Wonder Woman, you need the original lasso, not the mere truth lasso.
Her Lasso can still force the truth, stretched around the earth too. It's practically indestructible or actually is.
It also forces the person it's around to become helpless if I recall.



At one point in this fight, they fight in the corona of the Sun and Superman punches her back to Earth. Superman certainly has the upper hand throughout the fight, but if she were not VERY durable she would not have lasted long enough to get to Max and stop the mind control.

A fight that exceeded the speed of light and lasted a few seconds at that.

[SimonMoon6]

I think you're overselling, though, a bit how vulnerable she was post-crisis.

Yeah, I know. I was countering one extreme position with the other. Sharp things and pointy things can hurt her easily, but she is somehow super resistant to bludgeoning damage. For someone making her in D&D, it would be like DR 50 that only protects against bludgeoning damage (not slashing or piercing). There was even a story in which someone threw a grenade and she jumped on it and was completely unhurt (during the John Byrne era).

Still, even though she can trade blows with Superman, it's a far cry from saying that she can't be beaten by anything either (which was the position I was countering).

And I'm not sure that the post-Crisis Wonder Woman was always so resistant to bludgeoning damage. Certainly around the time of the John Byrne era (where they felt a need to make her seem more impressive), she started showing greater and greater physical resistance. I'd have to go back through the Perez era and see if there were any times when she was shrugging off such intense physical blows. My *impression* was that she was relatively fragile, though very skilled and strong etc, but I could be wrong, since I haven't read those comics in at least a couple of decades.

And just to confuse the matter, consider the Superman vs Wonder Woman tabloid comic. This story featured a WWII era story, therefore featuring the Earth 2 versions of the characters, therefore featuring characters intended to be the Golden Age versions of the characters (as written by someone who may never have read a Golden Age comic and wouldn't know the difference between the different versions of the characters). In this story, Wonder Woman and Superman also slug it out (with Wonder Woman and Superman seeming to be fairly even matched, though when they fight on the moon, Wonder Woman needs a helmet for air), making Wonder Woman seem more powerful than the Golden Age version typically was (even taking into account that the Golden Age/Earth 2 Superman was also weaker than the main version).

[Hecuba]

Still, even though she can trade blows with Superman, it's a far cry from saying that she can't be beaten by anything either (which was the position I was countering).
Fair enough. I'll gladly agree to that: going back to the fight I was already using as an example, even though she was staying in the fight it was fairly clear that Mindraped!Superman would have killed her is relatively short order had she not lassoed Max Lord and snapped his neck.

Moving back to the original topic: her items are every bit as kitchen sink as her powers. And, as has been pointed out, they are inconsistent.


Lasso:

Originally, forced someone to submit to her will
Later, it forced them to tell the truth
Still later, it was the physical incarnation of truth as a concept
After that, it let her look into a person's soul and know all their secrets (and make them tell the truth)

Bracers:

Initially, they are "just" indestructible.
Later, they also let her make a mini force-shield when she crosses them.
Currently, they limit her divine power so that she doesn't go into berserk mode.

Jet:

Sometimes, it's just an invisible plane.
But sometimes it's been an invisible horse instead.
Other times it's an invisible, telepathic, shape-shifting alien (somewhat demeaningly called the Wonder-Dome) that sometimes moonlights as a plane when she needs to carry passengers or luggage.
Or, sometimes, it's just a stealth jet.

Sandles:

When she's in a version that can't fly herself, sometimes she has the sandles of Hermes so that she can fly.
Strangely, this usually overlaps with having the plane featured semi-regularly.

Tiara:

The top of her tiara doubles as a cuts-anything (even Superman) level sharp blade, used a la Sailor Moon.
Most of the long-term writers remember this eventually, but it only ever seems to come up about once every 5 years or so.

Sword:

She's typically got lots of swords and armor, but occasionally someone remembers that she's got a blade from Hephaestus that is also impossibly sharp.
Deities are also in the habit of handing her other similar items on a semi-regular basis, but this is a recurring (if highly infrequent) one.

Purple Healing Ray:

What it says on the tin.
Generally, all Amazons have access to these (they have a reproducible magi-tech panacea they refuse to share).
Wonder Woman, however, gets a personal one she gets to share with the JLA all she likes.
Can be converted to a Purple Death Ray if you know what you are doing (which is the excuse for not sharing). The only time we see one used, it clears a swarm of OMACs engaged in melee in one shot with no friendly fire.

[Captain Morgan]

The Bracelets could summon Zeus's lightning for a small window at the end of the Post Crisis Era. Apparently it was a pretty bonkers attack which could vaporize high end class 100 types.

The Bracelets themselves wouldn't function be an armor increase though. Aside from that shield effect that she could activate, which seemed to require turtling on her part and therefore doesn't fit into the mid-combat concept of armor class, the bracelets were mostly just unbreakable. They don't magically move her arms in the way of attacks. She deflects bullets and lasers and what have you on pure skill and speed. At least in every version I have read.

A more interesting character to build gear for would be Cassie, Wonder Girl. I believe initially she had no powers and was using Amazonian artifacts to turn herself into a flying super brick. She also got her own lasso from Ares which had some esoteric powers and electro zapping functionality.

[SimonMoon6]

Bracers:

Initially, they are "just" indestructible.
Later, they also let her make a mini force-shield when she crosses them.
Currently, they limit her divine power so that she doesn't go into berserk mode.




Going into berserk mode without the bracelets was also a pre-Crisis thing but it didn't happen that often. If I recall correctly, the pre-Crisis amazons were forced by Aphrodite to wear the "bracelets of submission" after Hippolyta's silly actions with Hercules. If they took them off, they'd go a little crazy (berserk) and if a man chained them together, they'd lose their superpowers.



Sandles:
When she's in a version that can't fly herself, sometimes she has the sandles of Hermes so that she can fly.


And to follow up on the "Can she fly or not?" quality of Wonder Woman, I remember often discovering that people were surprised that Wonder Woman had the power of flight (in her post-Crisis incarnation) when they only recalled the Lynda Carter TV Wonder Woman who did not fly. However, Wonder Woman has been flying in the comics since 1959, though it was called "gliding on air currents" which was a skill, not a power, one that even the non-amazon Donna Troy was able to learn somehow. And despite being called "gliding", this power worked in all ways like the power of flight, except when the writer didn't want her to fly, she would discover that the air currents were insufficient to allow her to fly.

And then that answers the question "Why does she have a plane when she can fly?" because she got the plane before she could fly. And of course that question can also be answered by the question "Why do you have a car when you can walk?"



Sword:
[LIST]
She's typically got lots of swords and armor,

Typically? Not in every version. From 1941 to early 1980's, she never used a sword. Why would she need to? It's only when more modern writers have reinvented her as a more aggressive warrior that she's been seen using swords. Even the post-Crisis Wonder Woman would only use a sword in particularly dire straits. Classically, Wonder Woman uses weapons of peace (lasso, bracelets) rather than weapons of war, because she would draw a distinction between the violence of Man's World and the peace of Paradise Island. But that's been lost on modern writers who want to depict her as a "Grr, blood, death, kill" super-violent amazon. That may be more true to the classic mythological amazons, but it's not how the DC comics versions of amazons had been depicted for decades.

And if you want to list more equipment items she has access to, let's not forget:

The Magic Sphere This is an item kept on Paradise Island. It lets the user see anywhere in time and space, like a crystal ball. Pretty handy.

Telepathic Radios. She can use these to communicate telepathically with anyone (though it also helps if they have their own radio). She has given radios to all her friends (Steve Trevor and Etta Candy) and naturally her mom has a radio too. Wonder Woman keeps her telepathic radio in the invisible jet.

[Segev]

This thread got me re-contemplating some of my issues with how Wonder Woman is written and...often not written...in the media I frequent. I mostly come to the DC setting through the DCAU, so Wonder Woman (like Captain Marvel, who I'd love to see more of) really only shows up in ensembles (mostly the Justice League). And, oddly, as of Young Justice, has had less character development and screen time than Captain Marvel, despite being in theory one of the "big three" (along with Superman and Batman).

I finally, I think, have come up with how I, if I were going to write her with license to make up her powers, would at least handle her flight and invisible jet.

I would go with her boots being, indeed, a gift from Hermes. They have integrated into them one feather each from the wings on Hermes's sandals. They do NOT allow her to fly, but they allow her to walk on any surface as if it were solid enough to bear her weight and that of anything she's carrying, have subjective gravity oriented towards whatever surface she's standing/walking/running on, and even walk on the air (not fly, literally stand in the air, kind-of like how the Shinigami do in Bleach).

They also have the power to summon mounts and conjure vehicles. Her reputation for an "invisible jet" comes from people who've seen her conjure a jet to fly in and people who've seen her stand in mid-air having their urban-legend-pattern spread of their tales conflate until people think she flies by riding an invisible jet.

This has been an edition of Segev's Random Creative Musings. We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion of comic book canon.

[Valwyn]

I don't know much anything about comics, but her lasso could be spell storing lasso with a Discern Lies attached to it. You only get to know if they are lying, though, so you may want to look into other options. A homebrewed lasso with the Inquistion spell (BoED 101) as an enhacement property would be handy. It doesn't have a clear duration, so using the standard magic item rules might not be easy (I'd say it's a +3 property, but I really didn't run any math on it, so it's probably wrong). Also, remember that a lot of things are immune to Mind Affecting stuff or have high Will saves and/or SR, so an item might not be the best choice. Maybe find a way to emulate the Duskblade's channel ability so you can boost the spell's DC and CL as much as possible? Doesn't help against MA immunity (Protection from Good might be a problem if the spell is a Charm/Compulsion), but it's better than nothing. Hope this gives you some ideas.

[Hecuba]

Typically? Not in every version. From 1941 to early 1980's, she never used a sword. Why would she need to? It's only when more modern writers have reinvented her as a more aggressive warrior that she's been seen using swords. Even the post-Crisis Wonder Woman would only use a sword in particularly dire straits. Classically, Wonder Woman uses weapons of peace (lasso, bracelets) rather than weapons of war, because she would draw a distinction between the violence of Man's World and the peace of Paradise Island. But that's been lost on modern writers who want to depict her as a "Grr, blood, death, kill" super-violent amazon. That may be more true to the classic mythological amazons, but it's not how the DC comics versions of amazons had been depicted for decades.

You're probably correct for pre-crisis content: my familiarity with it is limited. For post-crisis, she certainly has reliable access to a personal armory of note even if it is not something she regularly uses. Her day to day equipment is, as you noted, generally chosen as accoutrements of peace rather than war. but she does have accoutrements of war when they a called for.

Post-flashpoint she seems to be stabbing things left and right: she's a very different character now.



The Magic Sphere This is an item kept on Paradise Island. It lets the user see anywhere in time and space, like a crystal ball. Pretty handy.
Doesn't it work as a magic portal for a while too: I seem to remember her using it to travel to Olympus and back and forth between Man's World and Paradise Island at one point. Or was that something else?


Telepathic Radios. She can use these to communicate telepathically with anyone (though it also helps if they have their own radio). She has given radios to all her friends (Steve Trevor and Etta Candy) and naturally her mom has a radio too. Wonder Woman keeps her telepathic radio in the invisible jet.
I had forgotten about those!

[SimonMoon6]

Doesn't it work as a magic portal for a while too: I seem to remember her using it to travel to Olympus and back and forth between Man's World and Paradise Island at one point. Or was that something else?

I don't recall it ever working that way (and if it could work that way, then certain stories would have been very different... but then, writers don't always remember everything that a character can do) but there are always gaps in everyone's knowledge.

Like, for example, the special properties of her earrings, which almost nobody has ever heard about, but that's pretty obscure even for me.

[Hecuba]

Like, for example, the special properties of her earrings, which almost nobody has ever heard about, but that's pretty obscure even for me.

Do share! I know they were grenades for a while when she was depowered for that run in the silver (bronze? I forget) age, but I didn't know of anything else.

Edit:

I don't recall it ever working that way (and if it could work that way, then certain stories would have been very different... but then, writers don't always remember everything that a character can do) but there are always gaps in everyone's knowledge.
Seems I was conflating some things: apparently her NY embassy just has a convenient magic portal, separate from any other equipment.

[Forrestfire]

For her bracers, I would actually make them a use-activated item of invisible spell wings of cover, which would normally cost 12,000gp. As an immediate action, she can put up an invisibly force field to block line of effect against anything for a split second, no-selling whatever attacks you like. In addition, I'd make them a gloryborn mithral breastplate, for light armor, a good AC bonus, and being able to rules-legally look however you want.

[SimonMoon6]

Do share! I know they were grenades for a while when she was depowered for that run in the silver (bronze? I forget) age, but I didn't know of anything else.


I'm sketchy on the details (I'd have to look things up in the Wonder Woman encylopedia from the 70s, but I have no idea where my copy is at the moment), but...

(1) An alien lady from another planet (Venus maybe?) empowered Wonder Woman's earrings so that Wonder Woman could hear messages sent by that lady. The Golden Age Wonder Woman often had adventures on other worlds, all of which seemed to be some weird fairy tale version of outer space.

(2) I'm pretty hazy on this, but I *think* that her earrings also contained a super-compressed air supply for emergencies.