New OOTS products from CafePress
New OOTS t-shirts, ornaments, mugs, bags, and more
Page 1 of 11 12345678910 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 30 of 313
  1. - Top - End - #1
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2012

    Default New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Okay gang, once everyone's posted up their character sheets we can get going!

    Whilst we're waiting I have two questions, first off do any of your characters already know each other? Second, what does their 'average' day look like?

    Name Player Defence Toughness Fortitude Will Initiative HP
    Kevin Matthews aka Platfomer Quellian-dyrae 10 10 10 10 10 4
    Jacob Manwell aka Wildcard Llyarden 6 14 8 12 20 2
    Ishani Descartes aka Indelible Zelphas 10 10 10 10 20 2
    Rowen Taggard aka Runtime Terror Ridai 13 7 7 13 20 4

    Current IC

    Spoiler: Houserules
    Show
    Ability Scores
    All gone! Smarter minds than mine have tried to balance them and failed, just by the bits of them you want individually and be done with it.

    EDIT: Strength can now be bought as a power for 1/pp per rank acting as the non-damaging applications of Strength.

    Tradeoffs
    No more than +/- 50% PL

    Dodge/Parry
    Both are being consolidated in to a single 'Defense' stat at the cost of 1/rank. There's no reason being Defence-shifted should cost more than being Toughness-shifted and when was the last time you saw anyone with unequal Dodge/Parry anyway?

    Assessment
    Works as follows: One degree of success against an opponent gives you their PL, two degrees gives you any trade offs they might have and three degrees you learn if any stats are below PL limits, absent, or immune.

    Luck
    Gone! Varying levels of Luck between a party is common source of imbalance. Instead of a 1/2 PL pp character tax everyone just starts each adventure with 3 HP instead.

    Skills
    No more than 5 ranks of a skill can be part of an array without some kind of limit. Equally you can't have any more than 5 ranks of a skill coming from Variable full stop. This is to prevent someone taking a couple of ranks of Variable and becoming an instant expert in everything, potentially overshadowing other players in their own specialities.

    Mobility
    This skill combines Acrobatics, Athletics in to one skill along with the Escape and Contortion functions of Sleight of Hand and initiative.

    Expertise
    Expertise is just one skill. What used to be individual Expertise skills are now individual proficiencies. You receive one proficiency per Expertise rank. You use your full Expertise rank for any proficiency you have, although if you want you may spend one proficiency to divide your ranks among several (no proficiency can ever exceed your full ranks). You may also exchange one proficiency for an additional language known, or an additional 1 Equipment Point, if you wish, so you can have a very high Expertise skill in only a few or even only one field if you wish. You may leave some proficiencies unselected and fill them in between scenes. You may also fill one or more of them in mid-scene at the cost of a Hero Point.
    If you have Jack of All Trades, you are treated as a minimum of half proficient (i.e. you use at least half your Expertise ranks, rounded down) for most proficiencies. If you have Eidetic Memory, you gain this benefit as well, but only for knowledge-related checks. These bonuses don't stack. The GM may designate certain proficiencies that, due to being exclusive to certain groups in-setting, do not qualify for these bonuses.
    You may buy five additional proficiencies for 1 PP. The Languages advantage is removed, since these options are strictly superior to it.

    Stealth
    Gets everything left from Sleight of Hand.

    Vehicles
    Is an expertise now.

    Healing
    The Healing power heals one condition if its check succeeds, plus one additional condition per two degrees of success beyond the first. Restorative healing cures one point of weakened traits per point of success on the Healing check that does not go to healing damage, to a maximum equal to the power's rank. The total healing received by a given target is halved, rounded up, if that target has failed a resistance check against the type of attack being healed (so Damage for base Healing, Weakens for Restorative) since the end of the healer's last turn.

    In addition, rather than healing worst condition first, the power first heals Dying, then heals each Bruise individually. Then it downgrades Staggered to Dazed. Then it removes the Dazed condition. Then it downgrades Unconscious to Staggered, and repeats the previous downgrades from there. The one-round Daze from failing a resistance check against Damage by two degrees isn't affected by the healing, it's just a brief side effect of being hit that hard, but if a target takes such a Daze while suffering a lingering Daze from getting Staggered downgraded by this power, it returns to Staggered instead.

    Growth & Shrinking
    One's too good and the other's garbage, you want to change your size category it's a 1 point feature per shift either way.

    Alternate Resistance
    Alternate Resistance Toughness/Fort/Will are all considered +0/per rank modifiers

    Accuracy
    Too many ways to buy it with varying degrees of efficiency, out it goes! Anything that would normally need a to-hit roll is just assumed to have enough to-hit to meet caps.

    Range
    Extended Range and Diminished Range are removed. Ranged powers have a range of a Distance Rank equal to the rank - 2 (if only some power ranks are ranged, it has a Distance Rank equal to the ranks that are Ranged). Linked powers don't require the same range; instead, as long as any of them are Ranged, they all are, using the total Range ranks. Likewise, if any power in a dynamic array can be made Ranged, all of them can.

    Spoiler: Downtime Actions
    Show
    Between missions, each PC has the opportunity to take Downtime Actions. They'll generally receive between one and three each mission, depending on the amount of downtime. A Hero Point can be spent to gain another Downtime Action, as a sort of Edit Scene function.

    Downtime actions will generally require some sort of check, depending on what you are trying to achieve. How much you accomplish will depend on the degrees of success on the check. Powers and Advantages may also open up possibilities for Downtime Actions that other characters might not be able to take (Quickness, for example, wouldn't let you take more Downtime Actions, but would allow you to take actions that would normally be a process of months or years rather than days; similarly, a Precognition or Postcognition power may allow you to learn the answers to questions that other PCs couldn't).

    There are three main types of Downtime Actions:

    Immediate Actions

    Things like learning the answer to a specific question, accomplishing a specific task, and other short-term, one-time things are immediate actions. They are generally similar to Edit Scene and Inspiration uses of Hero Points. You make a check to determine if you succeed. In some cases, where enough persistence will lead to eventual success, you can spend one additional Downtime Action per degree of failure to treat the attempt as a success. With additional degrees of success, you will receive some additional benefit as called by the GM.

    Special Immediate Actions: You may spend one Downtime Action to use the Inventor, Artificer, or Ritualist Advantages without bothering with the exact time. You may still only use one such temporary power in any given scene. However, you may "stockpile" such options, and select one at the start of a later scene, expending its free use. If you wish to select from your stockpile in the midst of a scene it costs a Hero Point.

    You may spend one Downtime Action to retrain up to five PP worth of traits, shifting them to something else. There is no check required.

    Extended Actions:

    Extended actions are those that will take prolonged amounts of time working towards the goal. Extended actions will require a specific number of total degrees of success before they are complete. Some may also include milestones that provide a partial benefit before the task has been fully accomplished. Degrees of failure past the first will deduct from accumulated degrees of success.

    Indefinite Actions

    Indefinite actions don't have a set endpoint; they provide some manner of benefit which constantly accumulates. A running tally of degrees of success is kept, and those degrees can potentially be spent to gain some benefit or offset some complication. Some indefinite actions will provide more immediate, concrete benefits for their degrees of success.

    Special Indefinite Actions: You can spend your Downtime to improve an NPC; training them, building them devices, etc. Once you do this, I'll get an official stat block made for the NPC if I don't have one already. The DC will generally be 5 + 2 * the NPC's PL, and each degree of success will give them one PP. You can't bring an NPC's PL or PP total above your own. This doesn't make the NPC a Sidekick, Minion, or the like, but if circumstances come up where they're involved in a scene, they'll be better able to assist or defend themselves. If the NPCs PL is at least two lower than yours, you can spend two degrees of success to raise it by 1 directly, up to a maximum equal to the average of its original PL and your PL. This won't provide more PP or immediately increased stats; those still have to be trained up normally. This will increase the DC of further training.

    You can use your Downtime to improve an Installation. The DC will generally be 10 + the Installation's current effective EP. Each degree of success grants the Installation 1 EP. You don't have to spend your own PP buying Equipment ranks to do this, even if you own the Installation.

    If you're really, just, super boring, you can spend two Downtime Actions to gain one Hero Point.
    Last edited by Dodgeson; 2023-02-17 at 06:51 AM.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2012

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Status

    Platformer: Fine
    Wildcard: Fatigued/Bruised x1
    Indelible: -1 All Defenses/Bruised x1
    Runtime Terror: Stagged/Bruised x1

    THE DEMON WITCH:Fatigued/Staggered/-7 Accuracy&Will/Bruised x4


    Spoiler: Platformer Downtime Actions
    Show
    Relationship Building (Morningstar) [Indefinite] 2 Successes/1 Spent Deception, Persuasion or appropriate Expertise DC20
    Successes can be spent to get favours from Morningstar. For example, insight in to what makes supervillains tick, carting off defeated enemies or for 5 successes she can act 'on-screen' for a scene when she is present as if she was a Summon. In addition, every 5 successes you may ask one question to learn more about her.

    Hunting Eschaton [Indefinite] 1 Successes Investigation DC25
    Every 10 Successes defeats a would be cult of Eschaton/destroys a stash of forbidden lore, reducing the likelihood of it being able to enter the material world. I'm sure nobody will Ǹ̵̢̨̦̦̯̝̘͈̱͕̞͓̎̄̆̒̅̑̅̿̌̉͗̈́̽͗̃̄̆͂̅̉̈̊͂̏͌̅͆͘̕̚͘͝͝ͅͅ ̨̨̡͔̙̻̩̭͙͍̼̰̙̰͍̘ͅͅO̸̅̑̋͛͒̐͋̓͆̉̍͒̏̈́̽̄̀̏̌͆̐̊̊̈́͘͘͘̚͠͝ ̨̽͑͐̾̽̓͋T̴̨̞̣̻̙͖̳͈̘̤̪̲̈́̓̀͆̚͝ͅͅȈ̷̛̛̽͌̈̌̀͗̋̔̓̋̇̚͠͝͠ ̧̡̡̜̱̟̳̥̻͍̼̬̠̥̪̫̝̗̻͎͕̦̓̀̍̔͊͗̉̓̀͐͑̋̉͆̀̌͆̿̿̽͐͌̕͜͜͜͝͝ ̧̨̨̬̬͕̖͍̮͖̰͚͉̭̠̳͎̦̙̟̰̪̝͜C̵̡̧̪͎͇̣͓͙̖̺̤͖̿̀̊͐̐͗̓́͂̔̈ͅ ̜̲͜͜ͅȨ̷̡̡̦̝̪̟̘̠͔͎̯̻̩̥̜͕̥͓̥̣̰̤̰̞̿̒͘͘

    Spoiler: Wildcard Downtime Actions
    Show
    Rebuilding New Harbour [Extended] 8/50 Successes PL or relevant Expertise DC25
    As successes are accumulated the parts of the city that have yet to recover become livable again, at 15 Successes Wildcard becomes aware of ways to access the Undercity and at 50 the city is fully rebuilt.

    Recovering Protectorate Tech [Extended] 0/50 Successes Investigation or relevant Expertise DC20
    Successes can be spent to use a recovered piece of Protectorate tech of your choice worth up to 5pp per 2 successes spent for a scene (Max 20pp). In addition, once complete Wildcard has recovered all missing pieces of Protectorate technology.


    Spoiler: Downtime Actions for Multiple Characters
    Show
    Superheroics! [Indefinite] 6 Successes/0 Spent PL DC20
    Successes can be spent to take advantage of your heroic reputation. At 15 successes the PCs will be accepted by the majority of New Harbour as defacto successors to the Protectorate.

    Exploring the Palaceship [Indefinite] 0 Successes/0 Spent Investigation or Technology DC25
    Renovate the Palaceship and discover its secrets! Two successes can be spent to add a new feature from the list below.
    T1 Gym, Habitat, Hangar, Holding Cells, Infirmary, Laboratory, Library, Trophy Room, Workshop
    T2 (Unlocks at 15 Successes) Combat Simulator, Communications, Computer, Defense System, Fire Prevention System, Personnel, Security System
    T3 (Unlocks at 25 Successes) Dual Size, Intelligent, Moveable, Self-Repairing, Teleport Lock, Temporal Limbo, Transport, Variable Environment

    The Palaceship
    Size: Gargantuan
    Toughness: 15
    Features: Living Space, Power System
    Last edited by Dodgeson; 2022-12-16 at 12:10 PM.

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Kevin Matthews AKA Platformer


    Hero Points: 4.

    Spoiler: Mechanics
    Show

    Attacks

    Initiative: +10.
    Attack: +10 (DC 25 Damage, DC 20 Effect).

    Defenses

    Defense: +10. Toughness: +10. Fortitude: +10. Will: +10.

    Skills

    Expertise +20, Investigation +20, Mobility +10, Perception +10.

    Proficiencies: Aliens, Culinary, Current Events, Draconic Lore, History, Gaming, Geography, Law Enforcement, Law, Literature, Local, Magic, Meta-Genetics, Military, Popular Culture, Psionics, Science, Sports, Superheroes/villains, Tactics.

    Advantages

    All-out Attack, Benefit 2 (Clever, Tech Savvy), Equipment, Evasion 2, Interpose, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Skill Mastery 2 (Expertise, Mobility), Teamwork, Well Informed.

    With Powers: Add Eidetic Memory.

    Benefits

    Clever: May substitute Investigation for Deception to oppose Deception-based actions.

    Tech Savvy: May substitute Expertise for Technology for purposes of tech knowledge (so, identifying, understanding, and using technology, but not repairing, building, securing, hacking, demolitions, and other more specialized functions).

    Equipment

    Modern Smart Phone with Bluetooth: Cell Phone, Computer, GPS, Commlink {4+1}.
    Alternate Applications: Camera, Audio/Video Recorder, Flashlight.

    Powers

    Flicker: Insubstantial 4 (Subject to [Magic] damage; Reaction [Immediately after being attacked], Limited [Cannot pass through unattended objects, structures, and terrain features], Limited [Triggered by Damage effects only], Limited [Only if provoking attack hits], Limited [Only if resistance check fails], Limited [Cannot sustain; must deactivate by end of next turn]) {4}.

    Menus: Enhanced Advantages 1 (Eidetic Memory) {1}.

    Extra Lives: Immortality 1 (Unreliable [5 Uses]), Enhanced Immortality 9 (Permanent, Unreliable [5 Uses]; Check Required 8 [Fortitude DC 18 to use, DC 27 for full ranks]), Feature/Quirk (Rather than reviving where he died, he revives wherever he was at the start of the episode) {2}.

    Life Bar: Protection 10, Immunity 2 (Critical Hits) {12}.

    Game Mechanics: 50-point Dynamic Array, Feature 1 (May dynamically Link up to three effects) {51+11}.

    Controls (2 Slots): Multiple Effects.

    (Y) - Run: Flight 10 (Platform, Limited [Must remain adjacent to a solid or liquid surface], Quirk [Must begin and end movement solidly supported]), Feature 1 (May pick up and drop off unresistng targets as a free action) [5].

    (B) - Jump: Flight loses Limit [5].

    (X) - Activate: Strength 10 [10].

    (A) - Strike: Damage 10 [10].

    (Z) - Shoot: Damage gains 7 ranks Increased Range (900'), Variable Descriptor 2 (Magical Descriptors), Ricochet [10].

    (L) - Shield: Create 10 (Selective, Stationary, Feature/Quirk [Selective Resistance], Reduced Range [Close], Concentration) [10].
    Selective Resistance: The barrier gets a resistance check using its rank against all attacks, including those that would normally automatically destroy it or that it would normally be immune to. If it beats a DC of 10 + the attack's rank, the Selective nature of the barrier works in its favor - it avoids an attack that would auto-destroy it or blocks an attack it would normally be immune to. If it fails, its Selective nature works against it - it blocks an attack that would auto-destroy it or misses an attack it would normally be immune to.

    (R) - Block: Deflect 10 (Secondary Effect, Reduced Range [Close]) [10].

    (Start) - Pause: Quickness 20 (Limited [Mental]) [10].

    (Select) - Camera: Remote Sensing 3 (Visual; 250'; Feature [Counts as Simultaneous as long as he remains on camera], Subtle 2), Senses 1 (Extended Vision) [10].

    (Connect) - In-Game Chat: Visual Communication 4 (Rapid 2, Subtle, Feature [Can send images]) [20].

    Special Attacks: Multiple Effects.

    Stomp: Damage gains Alternate Resistance (Defense), Perception (Limited to Close), and Limited (Must spend a move action jumping at target) [10].

    Kombo: Damage gains Multiattack [10].

    Smash Attack: Weaken Toughness 10 (Alternate Resistance [Toughness]) [10].

    Hitstun: Affliction 10 (Impaired+Vulnerable/Stunned+Disabled; Will; Extra Condition, Limited Degree) [10].

    Pinball: Strength gains Contagious [10].

    I'll Tank, You DPS: Multiple Effects.

    Refill Life Bar: Regeneration 10 (Sustained) [10].

    Button Mashing: Immunity 30 (Will; Sustained, Limited [Half Effect], Limited [Only for checks against ongoing effects]) [10].

    Rotate Control Stick: Immunity 30 (Fortitude; Sustained, Limited [Half Effect], Limited [Only for checks against ongoing effects]) [10].

    Stats What Stats?: Enhanced Defense, Toughness, Fortitude, Will 5 (Limited [Only to offset Weakens]) [10].

    Shrink Hitbox: Concealment 10 (All Senses; Limited [Defensive purposes only; does not allow for stealth or prevent targeting by non-Perception effects]) [10].

    White Magic/Psychic Support: Multiple Effects.

    Cure/PK Lifeup β: Healing 10 (Limited [Others Only]) [10].

    Remedy/PK Healing α: Healing gains Restorative [10].

    Esuna/PK Healing γ: Nullify Afflictions 10 (Broad, Simultaneous, Reduced Range [Close], Limited [Counters Only]) [10].

    Protect/PK Shield Σ: Deflect gains Shapeable Area [10].

    Reflect/PK Shield β: Deflect gains Reflect [10].

    Power Ups: Multiple Effects.

    Boost Items: Variable 2 (Improve Existing Traits; Reduced Action 2 [Free], Affects Self and Others, Feature [If a non-Minion non-object received a non-Bruise condition from a single-target Damage effect on his last turn, may add Limited (Earned) to the traits bestowed; this counts against the flaw cap for IET], Quirk [One target at a time out of combat; in combat, effect ends if target fails a resistance check vs. Damage]) [20].

    Healing Items: Healing loses Limit [10].

    Invincibility: Immunity 60 (Physical, Energy; Affects Self and Others, Reflect, Sustained, Limited [Only if a non-Minion non-object received a non-Bruise condition from a single-target Damage effect on his last turn], Limited 2 [Only if the attack roll for the qualifying attack was a natural 20 or the resistance check was a natural 1], Limited [Lasts for a maximum of two rounds, and may only be used on one target at a time]) [20].

    Calculations

    PL: 10. PP: 0/154.
    Stats: 30. Skills: 30. Advantages: 13. Powers: 81.


    Spoiler: Complications
    Show
    Not Just a Game [Motivation - Responsibility]: When he was younger, Kevin kinda took his powers at face value, treating the world in many ways like he was the hero of a video game. As he's matured, he's come to more intuitively understand that it's not all a game. He's seen the sort of threats that are out there, and he's seen the sort of damage his own powers can cause. As a young man, Kevin is wiser and more responsible now, although that isn't to say he's lost the kinda-goofy, innocent spark of his youth.

    Always Plays the Hero [Motivation - Doing Good]: Kevin doesn't play video games to kill monsters and collect treasure. Well, okay, not only to kill monsters and collect treasure. The point is, he likes to be the one who saves the land, rescues the princess, defeats the villain, and so on. While he's not really super compassionate or anything, he has a strong desire to be the Good Guy. His parents also did good work teaching him heroic morals.

    Glitched Power Ups [Accident]: These days, Kevin has a lot more control over his power ups than he used to, allowing him to freely choose when they appear, easily direct them to himself or an ally, and choose what effects they have. However, his control still isn't perfect, and as a Complication, his power ups may occasionally...glitch. This usually happens because of Kevin subconsciously believing a fight should be "cooler" or "more challenging" - it's most likely to occur when his opponents are outmatched (especially if they otherwise have some narrative significance, such as some goons holding off the heroes while a villain escapes) or for powerful enemies who have a run of bad luck. Glitches to Kevin's power ups could take a variety of forms; his control could slip, making them Unreliable and/or Uncontrollable like they were in his youth, they could move on their own requiring actions and/or checks to collect them, they could turn into trap items that cause negative effects, or they could even directly power up his enemy! In the latter case, Kevin doesn't even strictly need to be on his Power Ups power for his attacks (or perhaps enemy attacks against him) to create "traitorous" power ups.

    Unconscious Reality Warper [Accident]: Kevin himself, even with Power Stunts, can't use his powers to go outside his video game theme; even after learning the truth of his powers and with a St. Ambrose education under his belt, reality is simply too complicated; he needs it to be translated to something familiar and understandable to manipulate it with anything resembling control. That said, he's still an outright reality warper. In times of severe stress, anger, or other emotion...things can happen. Usually, these things still adhere to video game physics (such as his Glitched Power Ups and Enemy Sprites Complications), but not always.

    Enemy Sprites [Enemy]: Every game needs villains to fight and monsters to tear through by the hundreds. Kevin can, occasionally, subconsciously generate video-game enemies - sometimes even in place of power ups! Most of the time, these are Minions with fairly simple capabilities, but it is not impossible that a more serious opponent could develop to provide a proper boss fight.

    Malus Academy [Enemy]: Many of Kevin's adventures during his time in St. Ambrose involved thwarting the students of Malus Academy, a school for aspiring supervillains. Now that Kevin is no longer supported by Pending Objective, some of his old foes might seek him out for revenge, or some of the new crop of Malus students might target him for extra credit.

    Alchemaster [Enemy/Responsibility]: Alchemaster has been an enemy of Kevin's father for years. Kevin himself did battle with...well, a convincing duplicate, anyway, of Alchemaster once before. A big part of the reason Kevin has come to New Harbour is because of Alchemaster's involvement in the devastation that the city suffered through and the deaths of its heroes. Alchemaster would see Kevin as a priority target if only to get back at his father, and Kevin would be personally invested in thwarting any future plans of the mad alchemist.

    Glitch [Enemy/Hatred/Phobia/Power Loss/Reputation]: Originally a Malus Academy mimic, "Glitch" (Kevin still doesn't know what his original name was) bit off more than he could chew when he tried to copy Kevin's reality-warping powers. Lacking most of his limits, both subconscious and psychically-imposed, Glitch took on the form of a "palette-swapped" Kevin and basically became an all-but-entirely uncontrolled and probably-mostly-insane reality warper. While his powers do still have some degree of video game thematics, to say they correspond to actual game mechanics would be too generous by half. His powers also sometimes cause Kevin's to behave erratically when he's in Glitch's vicinity.

    Glitch believes himself to be Kevin on some level, and his delusion sometimes causes him to try to insert himself into Kevin's life. While generally fairly stable as long as the delusion isn't challenged, Glitch can lose control quickly when it is, and an out-of-control Glitch is a danger to anyone in the vicinity. Glitch will identify himself as Kevin Matthews AKA Platformer, and so in some cases Kevin may encounter reputational problems where Glitch has done wrong in his name.

    While Kevin won't hesitate to face Glitch in personal combat, the idea of the harm his powers could do when in Glitch's vicinity, or what Glitch could do with them, or especially what could happen if Glitch were to gain full control of them, all rather terrify him. And while the truth is that the best way to neutralize the threat Glitch represents might be to offer help and support, Kevin bears a deep personal hatred of Glitch that goes beyond reason; he has come close to outright murdering Glitch in the past, and basically refuses to treat Glitch as anything other than an enemy and a dire threat.

    Galacticorp [Enemy]: Now, to be clear, Kevin totally doesn't hold it against the interstellar corporation Galacticorp that they randomly abducted he and his friends and forced them to run through a lethal obstacle course culminating in a full-on super-powered throwdown with other aliens for the amusement of their audience. He doesn't even blame them for the incident where their teleporter intercepted a wormhole and sent them off on a visit to a Dark Future that they barely survived. These sorts of things happen, he knows the score, it's nothing personal.

    He did, however, take some offense to their attempt to invade and conquer his planet. One assumes that they were similarly displeased when he and Pending Objective thwarted a couple of their invasion teams and then rocked up to their mothership and took down their CEO in personal combat.

    So, you know, that's a thing.

    Eschaton [Enemy/Phobia/Obsession]: The biggest bad Kevin has ever faced, an eldritch horror that basically conquered the world in a Dark Future Kevin visited, Eschaton is a looming menace that Kevin finds absolutely and existentially terrifying. Even the vaguest hint of an indication that something might so much as incrementally increase the chance of Eschaton being unleashed on our reality would immediately shoot to the top of Kevin's priority list. He actively works to destroy any information about summoning or contacting Eschaton that he finds, and his fear of it is so great that even now Kevin kinda freaks out if anyone says its name, and absolutely refuses to do so himself (when he must discuss it, he tends to refer to it as "Big E").

    Eschaton has had some plots and minions foiled by Kevin, so while as a part of reality Kevin is basically on its list like everything else, given a need to prioritize the destruction of particular things-that-exist, Kevin might rate higher than most. Certainly, any well-informed individual seeking power from Eschaton would be aware that Kevin would be a likely impediment to such a goal, and may take proactive efforts to removing it.

    Sore Loser [Obsession/Temper]: Kevin's an introverted kid who subconsciously alters reality. He's not what one would call good at losing. He can get quite angry if someone beats him, especially if he has reason to believe they cheated. When he can't overcome a challenge, he often obsesses over it and dedicates his free time to trying again until he succeeds or is forced to stop.

    Video Game Caring Potential [Power Loss]: Kevin's a lot better than he used to be about consciously remembering that he's not actually the main character of a video game. His connections and emotional attachments to real people helps ground him in the reality of the world, keeping him from indulging the frankly terrifying behaviors his powers can encourage (see Video Game Cruelty Potential below) and acting as something of a limiter on his powers, helping him keep them under control. However...they are limiting. The more grounded he is in reality, the less oxygen his powers have. When he's feeling strong emotion about something or someone he cares about - when things get "too real" in other words - his powers will weaken.

    Wrong Genre Savvy [Quirk]: Kevin has a perfectly reasonable, given his circumstances, tendency to assume things are going to act like they do in a video game (and to be fair, he has had a surprising amount of success using video game tropes to guide him). He knows not everything does, but he has a tendency to at least try a game-relevant solution to problems, to at least see what works and what doesn't - at this point, he's fairly convinced that his powers are subtly, unconsciously shifting reality just enough to make such methods plausible (although it's also entirely possible that he just lives in a zany enough world that his particular brand of crazy works). And while his powers definitely relate most heavily to platform games, that isn't the only type of game he plays, so he can flit between genres when trying this stuff.

    Of some note, while Kevin sees this as simply rational given the way his powers work, there's more to it than that. At the end of the day, the video game theming is just a subconscious interface for controlling his powers, a translation of the awesome complexity of reality into a format Kevin can understand and interact with intuitively. It is, in fact, more-or-less impossible for him not to believe, on at least some level, that reality works like a video game. No matter how much he may consciously believe that reality operates by different rules and he's just fiddling with them some, deep down, he will always intuitively expect for things to work like video games. Acting otherwise tends to create a sense of cognitive dissonance for him, making him stressed and uncomfortable.

    Video Game Cruelty Potential [Quirk]: As indicated above, Kevin believes - deep down, at least - that the world works like a video game. And, specifically, that he is the main character. It's not really possible for him to believe otherwise on an intuitive level, although he does have conscious limiters on the belief. Even so, especially in times of stress, anger, or just when he's not thinking clearly, those beliefs can have a much greater impact on his behavior. And while usually his video game shenanigans are kinda silly and harmless, at worst leading him to make inane decisions or come off as, just, super-weird, you guys...such beliefs can also become pretty terrifying if taken to extremes. At his worst, Kevin can sometimes struggle to remember that NPCs are people, or that he isn't entitled to just walk into anyone's home and search it for useful items, or that his enemies are more than just hostile sprites placed to provide challenge, EXP, and power ups.

    Now, it would take quite a lot of stress to actually drive him to act on some of those beliefs. In general, his powers mainly reinforce his tendency to be rather introverted and distant. Kevin is a devoted and powerful hero - but the fact is that he has the potential to be an utterly terrifying villain.

    Heroic Parents [Relationship]: Kevin's parents are full-fledged heroes in their own right - his father, Abrams Matthews AKA Spellweaver, is a practicing mage. His mother, Elise Matthews AKA Thoughtweaver, is a powerful psychic. Their enemies could go after Kevin to gain leverage over them (the reverse has also happened once, although Kevin made a...let's say "pretty strong case for why it would not be wise to do it again"). Or his mom might telepathically contact him and teleport him home to do chores in the middle of a super-powered fight. Either way, really.

    It's also worth noting that Kevin's maternal grandmother and granduncles are Heather, Daniel, and Roger Walker, AKA Mindwalker, Spacewalker, and Forcewalker. They aren't superheroes themselves, but military psychics who played key roles in World War 2. Roger was a powerful telekinetic who fought on the front lines with war-scale powers, but his younger siblings, the twins Heather and Daniel, are probably more famous. In addition to master logisticians who used their global-scale powers of telepathy and teleportation to extraordinary effect, they were members of the famed Taskforce Victory, which went on to help found St. Ambrose. Thanks to some modest biokinetic secondary powers, Kevin's grandmother and granduncles are still alive, albeit retired. In addition to, likewise, being able to telepathically contact Kevin and teleport him over when they need help with their computers or something, they still have military connections and might be asked to call in their grandson/nephew to assist the military if such were required.

    Kevin's relationship with his parents has been a bit strained since he learned of their role in keeping the true nature of his powers secret. Logically, he understands why they did it, but his mother used some pretty invasive and occasionally painful telepathic powers to ensure the secret was kept, and his father...well, Kevin's father has always been very active in encouraging Kevin's education, intellect, and just in general, his acquisition of knowledge. Truth is the fact that his dad kept this secret from him...hurts, it was kinda Kevin's "your parents aren't perfect" moment.

    Pending Objective [Relationship]: During his time in St. Ambrose, Kevin was part of a team that eventually became the school's primary heroic team, Pending Objective. The team consisted primarily of himself, the draconic martial artist Meta, and the unpowered teenaged gymnast who nonetheless fought to devastating effect alongside a video-game-themed reality warper and draconic martial artist like it wasn't no thing, Megan Dawson, though several other students occasionally joined up and dropped out over the years. Kevin still considers Meta and Megan his two best friends (and he and Megan were dating for a while there), and if either needed help with anything he would literally leap to assist them.

    Bad Blood With Miss Jenson [Relationship/Responsibility/Rivalry/Secret/Creepy Foreshadowing By Professor Quantum]: Kaja Jenson, AKA Morningstar, was a student at St. Ambrose back when Kevin was attending. She has some manner of Light Control power drawn from the choker she wears, which Kevin had identified as belonging to a former superheroine called Radiance who had fallen off the grid some twenty years prior. At the time, the St. Ambrose science teacher (and master time traveler), Professor Quantum, had alluded to some sort of "bad blood" between she and Kevin in the future.

    She's also, apparently, the daughter of Alchemaster.

    There had never been any trouble between them at St. Ambrose. Kevin considers her a friend. Still, Kevin has never taken Professor Quantum's forewarnings lightly. He would prefer to avoid any "bad blood" between himself and Morningstar, and he gives her the benefit of the doubt and assumes she stands against her villainous father...but he has to admit, there's a lot he doesn't know about her. If he encounters her, he'll tend to be wary, often overthinking his interactions with her out of concern that the wrong choices may send her down a more villainous path, coupled with a bit of suspicion that she may not be the hero she appears.

    Gotta Catch 'Em All [Responsibility]: Kevin once pointed out to an enemy that he's not a comic book superhero. While at the time he was making a rather...darker point, the fact remains true. In comics, the heroes tend to be fairly reactive, dealing with threats as they come up. In video ganes, though, it's the bad guys who sit around in their lairs waiting for the heroes to come fight them; the heroes are the ones who go around getting quests, grinding for levels, and going out to actively thwart the bad guys. Now that he's a fully-trained superhero, that premise informs Kevin's approach to heroics.

    Kevin spends a good chunk of his downtime actively investigating and researching known villains, particularly those who have escaped justice somehow, and working to track them down and bring them in. He won't go after people just for something they might do, and he generally tries to coordinate (or at least communicate) with appropriate law enforcement in the process. But if a villain has outstanding warrants and such, he's happy to take personal responsibility for their capture.

    Of course, video game heroes aren't expected to find the plot all on their own, so Kevin's very open to requests from police or others for dealing with particular villains, and will actively seek such out where plausible. He can be somewhat naive when it comes to properly vetting information provided by such people; he tends to take the requests of "quest givers" at face value unless he has a particular reason not to.


    Spoiler: Power Descriptions
    Show
    Kevin is a reality-warper, but like most reality warpers his powers are subject to some subconscious limiters. In Kevin's case, his powers basically alter his perception of and interactions with reality to make him work like a video game protagonist, with tropes drawn primarily from classic platform games.

    Flicker [Reality Warping] [Personal Mechanic]: When Kevin is damaged by an opponent, he flickers for a brief time, becoming insubstantial. This allows him to move through other characters (though not objects), and causes most tangible attacks to pass harmlessly through him. The flickering only lasts for a few seconds, but it's an effective defense against multiple simultaneous attackers.

    Menus [Reality Warping] [Interface Mechanic]: Pretty much Kevin's entire knowledge-base is organized into a menu structure like you might find in a video game, allowing him to reference everything he knows freely and with perfect reliability.

    Extra Lives [Reality Warping] [Personal Mechanic]: Like any platform hero, Kevin has extra lives allowing him to return if killed. It usually takes about an hour for Kevin to revive, but it can take longer, in some cases as much as two weeks. Kevin revives at the "start of the level" - basically, wherever he was at the beginning of the episode. Kevin can only revive five times; his extra lives don't refresh over time, but at GM discretion certain feats or events may allow him to recover his extra lives.

    Life Bar [Reality Warping] [Personal Mechanic]: Kevin doesn't really receive physical damage normally. In his point of view he has a life bar, and it drops when he gets hurt. His life bar can take quite a lot of punishment though. Kevin has also realized that there's no reason it should matter where on his body you hit in terms of damage done - after all, the whole point is that it's not really his physical body that's being damaged, because his physical body is just a sprite. What gets hit is his hit box, and while an FPS hero might have a "headshot" hitbox that causes them more damage or something, platform heroes largely don't care about that sort of thing.

    Game Mechanics [Reality Warping]: Kevin can manipulate the "game mechanics" - that is, the rules of reality - to achieve various effects.

    Controls (2 Slots): Kevin uses most of his powers through the interface of a sort of mental video game controller. This is actually a major part of his perception of the world; Kevin doesn't really feel like he's personally, physically acting in most cases, he feels like he's watching his surroundings play out on a sort of visual-field-filling screen, while he in a dissociated way controls the Kevin on screen with a controller.

    (Y) - Run [Personal Mechanic]: Kevin can hold down the Y key to run at tremendous speeds, not only moving at something like Mach 3, but also allowing him to run up walls, over water, and even upside-down on ceilings for a short time.

    (B) - Jump [Personal Mechanic]: Like any good platform hero Kevin can also leap great heights, although his leaping is taken to rather ludicrous extremes. He's also capable of wall-jumping, double-jumping, and so on, making his movement fundamentally equivalent to flight in short bursts, although he has to begin and end each movement solidly supported - he can't actually hover in the air, at least without an appropriate power up.

    (X) - Activate [Personal Mechanic]: Kevin is capable of feats of super-strength both in and out of combat, much in the vein of video game heroes who can lift enormous loads and send their enemies flying with powerful blows.

    (A) - Strike [Combat Mechanic] [Physical] [Bludgeoning]: Kevin can attack foes with unarmed strikes or bashing weapons with paragon-level strength and speed.

    (Z) - Shoot [Combat Mechanic] [Variable]: Kevin can cast a variety of magical attacks at a distance. Such attacks can bounce off walls to potentially hit from unexpected angles.

    (L) - Shield [Combat Mechanic]: Kevin can create a forcefield to block attacks and passage. The forcefield selectively allows passage to those Kevin wishes. The shield's selectivity is precise enough to avoid some attacks that would normally instantly destroy it, but this prevents it from being a perfect defense against attacks that would normally cause no harm to objects, as they might slip through. Kevin's forcefields last for as long as he concentrates and are stationary once created.

    (R) - Block [Combat Mechanic]: Rather than (or in addition to) creating large-scale shields, Kevin can actively block incoming attacks against himself or an ally.

    (Start) - Pause [Interface Mechanic]: Kevin can put the game on pause, but unfortunately this puts him on pause as well. Still, this gives him all but unlimited time to think about things and perform other mental activities, including looking around with his Camera.

    (Select) - Camera [Interface Mechanic]: Kevin is capable of perceiving the world from a third-person viewpoint, creating a camera angle that can pan, zoom, and so on, though if he doesn't remain on-camera it can make it hard to react to things in his vicinity. In his youth, Kevin's perceptions were locked into this mode, contributing quite a bit to his feelings of disconnection with reality, but he's learned how to switch to a first-person viewpoint now, which helps quite a bit.

    (Connect) - In-Game Chat [Interface Mechanic]: Kevin can create a chat box in the vision of others, allowing him to communicate in a manner similar to telepathy, albeit more visual. When someone concentrates on the chat box, time slows down for them, allowing such communications to happen very rapidly. The chat boxes are difficult even for those with appropriate super-senses to detect, and they allow uploading "image files" as well as text.

    Special Attacks [Combat Mechanic]: Kevin can initiate a number of video-game-derived special attacks.

    Stomp [Mystical] [Reality]: Kevin's most powerful attack, mightier than any Master Sword, more devastating than Ultima, stronger than the greatest dragon shout - he can jump on his enemy's head in true Super Mario fashion! This doesn't cause physical damage the way his normal strikes do. It's actually kinda weird. Why does Mario jumping onto an enemy's head take them out? It just kinda does, as if by, well, a brute fact of reality. And that's how it works here, only distinctly moreso. If Kevin jumps onto your head, that's it, game over, you lose. Set hit points to 0, empty your life bar, whatever. Now, if you dodge his jump, you're fine. If you partially dodge it, so he only jumps on like your shoulder or your back or something, that hurts but you're otherwise still in the game. Or if you block with an arm or something, same deal. But if Kevin jumps squarely on your head, it doesn't matter how tough you are, it's just over, because that's what reality dictates. (Although some "boss enemies" may be immune or resistant; half immunity to Defense-resisted attacks is a heck of a thing).

    Kombo: Kevin can execute a Mortal Kombat style sequence of button presses to make devastating combo attacks.

    Smash Attack [Physical] [Ballistic]: Quick-tap the control stick towards your enemy before hitting A and you'll execute a devastating smash attack with far greater power than a normal strike.

    Hitstun [Mystical] [Reality]: In some games, enemies struck by the hero will be momentarily hitstunned, unable to fight back and open to follow-up attacks for a short time. Kevin can impose this effect on his foes with his attacks. This doesn't, like, concuss them, or paralyze them, or telepathically blast the thoughts from their mind. They're just unable (or less able) to act effectively, as a brute fact of reality.

    Pinball: Just like how Kevin can ricochet his ranged attacks off of walls, so too can he send his enemies pinballing off of each other in a continuous chain until one of them manages to resist the force of his attack.

    I'll Tank, You DPS [Personal Mechanic]: While Kevin's a capable enough damage-dealer, in the great MMORPG that is team-based superheroics, he primarily envisions himself as a tank-role character (to be more precise, his RPG tropes tend to lean towards the "main character" archetype, who's often a pretty tanky warrior). Over time, this has caused his powers to develop more towards personal defense and recovery.

    Refill Life Bar: Kevin's life bar has always refilled passively at a modest rate, but with experience he's learned to improve its recovery rate to be fast enough to matter in combat.

    Button Mashing: When you're affected by some debilitating effect in a real-time game, what do you do? You hit the buttons on your controller as fast as you can until it goes away, obviously. Kevin has found that this strategy works to help more rapidly throw off a wide variety of ongoing detrimental effects.

    Rotate Control Stick: And if button mashing doesn't work, spinning the control stick around really really fast usually does.

    Stats What Stats?: Okay, yes, Kevin draws from lots of game genres when he uses his powers, but by focusing on his primary aspect as a platform character, he can benefit from a simple truth: platform characters don't typically have stats. This allows him to ignore some portion of effects that would debuff his.

    Shrink Hitbox: Kevin's body, as far as his powers are concerned, is really just a sprite. Attacks in video games don't take effect when they hit a sprite; they take effect when they hit a hitbox. So Kevin learned how to shrink his hitbox. He still visually occupies the same position, but if your attack doesn't catch his actual hitbox, it'll just pass right through him. Now, when he's not doing this his hitbox and his body are basically the same thing. But the distinction between them becomes much clearer when he shrinks it down. Amusingly, since his hitbox is itself completely invisible, this means attacks that require accurate perception will simply fail against him while his hitbox is shrunk, because the attacker can't perceive the hitbox that they need to target, just the mechanically-irrelevant sprite (unless they have some tactile or relevant Concealment-countering super-sense, which will still ping the hitbox normally).

    White Magic/Psychic Support [Combat Mechanic]: Kevin's father is a wizard and his mother a psychic. And neither magic nor psionics are all that far off from reality warping. Kevin has been studying magic and practicing psionic disciplines in an effort to further develop his control of his powers. He isn't actually a mage or psychic, but his reality-warping powers can credibly emulate certain spells or psychic powers (at the core these are still [Reality Warping] effects; they aren't actually [Magical] or [Psionic]).

    Of course, magic is a common power source in video games. Psionics is somewhat more rare, but still represented. Kevin's powers along these lines tie further into his RPG tropes; like many "main characters" or advanced warrior types in RPGs, he has access to a solid suite of recovery and defense magic, supplementing his tanking by allowing him to directly heal or defend his allies. In his case, these are patterned off of Final Fantasy White Magic spells, or several of the recovery and assist psychic powers from Earthbound.

    Cure/PK Lifeup β: Kevin can use a basic Cure spell or Lifeup ability to heal others. He can't actually heal himself in this way, because they restore hit points and he has a life bar. Obviously.

    Remedy/PK Healing α: Kevin can remove most basic status effects, mainly those that directly debuff stats, by casting a Remedy spell or trying the PK Healing α ability.

    Esuna/PK Healing γ: But for more serious status effects, he can wipe them away with Esuna or the more potent PK Healing γ.

    Protect/PK Shield Σ: Kevin can cast Protect to shield his allies from harm, or cover his entire party with PK Shield Σ.

    Reflect/PK Shield β: Kevin can cast Reflect to turn enemy attacks back against them, or accomplish a similar feat psychically with PK Shield β. (When using both this and the above slot, he can also provide a reflective defense for the whole party by casting Wall or trying PK Shield Ω.)

    Power Ups: In his youth, Kevin would sometimes randomly generate random power ups when he attacked his foes, that he or his allies (or occasionally, if they were sufficiently enterprising, his foes) could collect. Now that he has more control and knowledge of his powers, he's learned to generate power ups at will, control which ones he creates, and direct them automatically to his desired target. He can even produce power ups without damaging an enemy first, but they're weaker. Kevin has also integrated his power ups with the rest of his abilities, which means he can make use of the raw energy that was going towards generating them for other purposes when he wishes to. This does, however, mean that Kevin's power ups don't really make him personally stronger the way they used to; they just let him use his powers in more versatile ways than he can accomplish normally.

    Boost Items: Kevin's typical power ups produce all manner of boosts that augment the powers of whoever he bestows them upon, or allow him to use his powers in more ways than he normally could. Kevin can have multiple power ups active simultaneously on different allies, but they are lost immediately if the target receives damage, and a given character can only benefit from one power up at a time.

    Healing Items: While Kevin's Cure spells and Lifeup abilities can't refill his life bar, good ol' healing power ups can do it juuust fine.

    Invincibility: Kevin's most potent power up bestows upon the target temporary invincibility, at least to most normal forms of attack - all physical and energy attacks are not only useless against the recipient but get reflected back upon the initiator, but other forms of attack may still be sufficient to hamper them. Invincibility only lasts for a brief time, twelve seconds at most, and unlike most of Kevin's power ups he can't provide it to multiple allies simultaneously. He also is unable to actually invoke this power at will, at least without cheat codes (that is, power stunts); rather, there's a small chance when he attacks that he might be able to produce an Invincibility power up.
    Last edited by Quellian-dyrae; 2022-12-23 at 06:28 PM.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Spoiler: Description
    Show
    Kevin is a bit over five and a half feet tall (he finally hit a growth spurt!) with a compact, wiry build. He often appears rather...distracted, not really good at making eye contact. In fact, his gaze often seems somewhat vacant. He has short, straight brown hair and green eyes. He's twenty-two years old. At first glance, his costume appears to be that of a stereotypical fantasy wizard; a formal, well-tailored wizard's robe, complete with cape, hat, and rune-carved staff.

    But if you look at it for a moment, you'd realize that the costume is the exact same shade of blue as Sonic the Hedgehog. That the hat isn't a wizard's typical wide-brimmed, pointed headgear, but the same kind of floppy cloth hat that Link wore...except in the front, it bore a white circle with a blue K. The robe is covered with stylized patterns of lighter blue and white thread that resembled the designs around the titles of the more recent Final Fantasy games. The symbols on the staff, with a moment's notice, are easily identified not as actual arcane runes, but all manner of carvings of video game items and symbols - stars, mushrooms, bombs, various food items, hearts, and even a triforce - and is topped by a golden disk with about a pie-slice taken out of it, the iconic image of Pac Man. The cape is the off-white color of a Gameboy, embroidered in silver threads with various video game scenes - Kirby inhaling something, a Skyrim Dragonspeech Wall, Crono sacrificing himself against Lavos, Samus's ship landing on Zebez, and so on and so forth - arranged in the same square surrounded by squares formation of a Megaman level select menu, with the larger center square occupied entirely by the first level of Donkey Kong.

    (His costume also often changes some when he collects power ups.)

    Kevin tends to be rather shy and introverted. He's...awkward in a conversation, and tends to stumble in his words around people he doesn't know. He can be quite exciteable, however, especially in the company of friends. Talk to him about a subject that peaks his interest, and he can get a pretty good ramble going. He does also have a good sense of humor, and if one pays attention, they might catch some softly mumbled wry comments about a situation he it witnessing or a conversation he is listening to.

    Though he often doesn't appear so, he is keenly attentive, rarely missing details. He is very bright and possesses an excellent memory. His ability to give himself unlimited time to think or bring up menus that contain every fact he's ever learned are also big helps to that. He has a lot of pride in the wealth of information he has collected, and the education both superheroic and mundane that he received from St. Ambrose School for the Extraordinary.

    While he's grown out of it to a large degree, he can sometimes still lapse into being a bit self-centered. While he enjoys a challenge, he does not like losing at all, to the point of obsessively trying again until he succeeds. It's a useful trait in a sense, but he can sometimes take it too far.

    A child of two superheroes, he's been taught heroic morals from a young age (his gaming, in fact, strongly reinforcing that). While in his youth he saw heroics as a somewhat abstract thing, wanting to "be the hero" without much thinking about the people he was helping, his time in St. Ambrose built upon the strong foundation his parents instilled in him. While he may not always take things super-seriously, and definitely has a...unique way of looking at the world (probably all the moreso now that he's working with adults rather than teenagers), his heart is firmly in the right place, and he cares deeply about helping others and making the world a better place.

    That being said, Kevin's powers could be incredibly dangerous if taken to their limits, and already have altered his ability to interact with the world on a fundamental level. Though a hero by nature and upbringing, the fact remains that he can be self-centered, obsessive over failures, and very distant from people. He does occasionally treat people like background characters in a game, and while he logically understands that he's not really in a video game, he more-or-less can't entirely get that on an intuitive level. In short, while he has grown up into an intelligent, courageous, and compassionate hero, one of his biggest fears is how easy it would be, in the right circumstances, for him to become a truly terrifying villain.


    Spoiler: Backstory
    Show
    Kevin's father is Abrams Matthews, practicing mage and a stalwart protector of the world from dark magic, supernatural monsters, and the occasional traditional supervillain as well. His mother, Elise Matthews, is a powerful psychic metahuman, capable of feats of telekinesis, telepathy, and teleportation. The combination of powerful magic and a strong metahuman bloodline ensured the birth of a child with no small potential for power.

    Kevin's abilities manifested before he could speak, but they were always fairly minor, along the lines of his parents opening a can of peas and it being applesauce when they set it down. As he grew older, the manifestations became less frequent, although fortune did seem to somewhat favor him. Consulting with several colleagues, they eventually concluded that he possessed an apparently unconscious ability to alter reality.

    Still, his power seemed a minor talent...until he hit puberty. At first, he appeared to have developed a completely different power set - strength, speed, jumping ability. How he had gone from reality warper to paragon confused and concerned his parents, but they didn't really worry until he started bringing up the cognitive changes he had undergone. His vision was disembodied, like he was watching himself act from afar. He could freely recall any information he knew. And then, putting reality warping squarely back on the table, he mentioned stopping time.

    Then one day, his parents got a call from his school. Apparently he had terrified his class during a dodgeball game when he got hit by a ball and immediately starting blinking in and out.

    "Yeah, it was really cool. It's just like what happens when you get hit in a video game."

    Two, meet two.

    Kevin had been an avid gamer for a while (his parents encouraged the hobby, particularly games where he could play the hero and save the world and such). Apparently, his favorite form of entertainment had become something of the focus for his powers. Knowing that he was going to need professional tutelage to learn to control so difficult an ability as reality warping, they immediately contacted St. Ambrose for consideration (Abrams was an alumni, in fact, learning magic at the feet of the Professor of Arcane Studies).

    However, they requested to the ranking officials of the school not reveal the full extent of Kevin's power, as they knew that conscious control over his abilities would require years of training and discipline, and wanted him to get the hang of controlling the limited and subconscious reality alterations he was manifesting before starting him on such an arduous path. They even went so far as to telepathically implant a...few additional memories into Kevin himself to secure his cover.

    So as far as 99% of the school (and Kevin himself) knew, he got his powers when their house was struck by lightning in the middle of one of his father's arcane rituals while he was playing video games.

    Yes, really.

    Kevin's time at St. Ambrose was a wild adventure. Over time, he and his two best friends ended up forming the nucleus of the superhero team that became known as Pending Objective, eventually becoming the school's official super-team. Their adventures ranged from thwarting the machinations of dinosaur-people bent on conquering the world, to doing battle with the villainous students of Malus Academy, to rescuing their classmates from the fell circus of Ringmaster Grandier, to being whisked through space and even time to thwart alien foes and cosmic entities alike.

    And while Kevin's knowledge and experience grew in leaps and bounds at St. Ambrose, perhaps the most important impact the school had on him was helping him build connections to the reality he lived in and the people around him, to better deal with the dissociation and apathy that his powers predisposed him towards.

    Over the course of his adventures, Kevin slowly uncovered clues about the true nature of his powers. His use of "cheat codes" to manipulate his power ups. The uncontrolled reality warping caused by the mimic he called "Glitch" copying his abilities. His incredible feat of selective time stopping to get his team home from the Dark Future moments before Eschaton destroyed them all. And more as time went on. His mother tried to keep the full extent of his abilities under wraps, reinforcing the telepathic defenses that kept him from putting it all together, but as his knowledge became ever more at odds with his beliefs, the psychic feedback started to take its toll. Finally, mid-way through his Senior year, his parents decided it was too dangerous to try to maintain the mental blocks, and they revealed to him the truth.

    Kevin...didn't take it particularly well. Those psychic blocks had caused him a non-trivial amount of mental pain when they conflicted with his understanding of reality, or when he tried to force his thoughts to go in a direction they precluded. But that was kinda the least of it. Kevin's mother was a psychic, his father a wizard. They hadn't only taught him how to be a hero; one of the most important lessons they had taught him was that knowledge was power. To keep him from that knowledge, to go to such extreme lengths to keep the functioning of his own powers a secret from him, was for Kevin if anything an even more profound breach of trust than the psychic manipulations (though, let's be clear, he wasn't exactly thrilled about those either). He went most of the rest of his Senior year without talking to his parents at all, and even now their relationship is still a bit strained.

    Finally Kevin graduated, and Pending Objective went their separate ways (though Kevin keeps in touch frequently with his Chat). Kevin enrolled at a college a fair distance from Jubilee City, not wanting to move back home after leaving the school. He did some solo heroics for a time, but when he heard about Alchemaster's attack on New Harbour, he packed up and headed there pretty much immediately. Alchemaster had been an enemy of his father's for some time, and Kevin felt it was his responsibility to help the city that the mad alchemist had ruined, and to step up to fill the void left by the heroes he had slain.


    Splitting into two posts because I was close to the character limit.

    On the knowing people subject, I actually had a minor character beat idea operating on the assumption that Kevin didn't know the rest of the team, or at least didn't work with them as yet. I'm not married to it, but unless anyone has other ideas I'm leaning towards Kevin being new.

    As far as an average day thing...hrm. It's a bit weird because I've been figuring Kevin to be newly arrived in New Harbour, so he probably doesn't have much of a routine yet. When I search my brain for what his day job should be the answer I come back with is, "He doesn't actually have one, but thanks to his adventures with Pending Objective there's now a Platformer video game series and he lives off the licensing fees from that." I think at the moment much of his time is divided between "training" (practicing his control of his powers, playing video games to get new ideas for how to use his powers/expand his subconscious intuitions for what he could do with them, practicing/studying various mundane skills because he has Expertise 20 and that takes effort, etc) and kinda rambling around town patrolling/looking for quest hooks/familiarizing himself with the area/randomly helping people/etc.
    Last edited by Quellian-dyrae; 2021-10-25 at 01:43 PM.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Pixie in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2021

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Thank you again for having me! I do not publicly share my character sheets; the following link goes to my Google document for GM reference, but only Dodgeson will be able to access it. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

    Do any of your characters already know each other?

    That depends on whether you want to start us out at the beginning of our career or not. Given the usually glacial pace of PbP I'm inclined to say we ought to skip all the setup; that would allow Jill to already have her "headquarters" (really more of a garage) and her powered suit already built and ready to go.

    The most sensible way for the rest of the party to already be acquainted with Jill would be for them to have rescued her. As a future-tech mechanic she could have been discovered, found, or summoned by an Evil McBadGuy and enslaved or otherwise coerced into making them lots of crazy dieselpunk technology. When the other characters burst into the Evil Lair of Badness they discovered her workshop and, realizing that she was not herself a bad person, helped her bust out... perhaps with the aid of a mech suit she'd been building on the side. So, y'know, basically the Iron Man backstory.

    What does their 'average' day look like?

    Jill likely spends a majority of her time at her headquarters trying to find a way to get back home... or at least, that's what she wants to do! But every time she goes outside she ends up getting distracted trying to feed the poor or house the homeless or fight supercrimes. Even staying indoors isn't a guarentee of being free of distractions because one of the rich party members provided her with her workshop under the condition that she help them whenever she is called on. In the evenings she likely goes to a dive bar and gets herself ****faced!

    Spoiler: Character Description
    Show
    Jill Glass is a temporally displaced citizen of a parallel timeline in which the Dark Ages never happened, allowing rationality and science to develop unfettered for an additional six hundred years, yet never experienced a mass adoption of electricity despite the advancements in technology. This has resulted in a world in which dieselpunk technology reigns supreme and even the prosthetic enhancements of its citizens are nano-scale clockwork automata. It must have been a bizarre world to modern sensibilities, for Jill to be so wondered at the advancements and horrified by the injustices she witnesses here.

    Jill was, by all accounts, an ordinary citizen in her home timeline, working as a mundane mechanic. In our timeline, she is a nanotech-infused engineering wunderkind wielding her futuretech knowledge to build seemingly-wondrous solutions to the problems of crime, poverty, and injustice. Not least of these inventions is her “mechanized battle dress.” Although nominally a powered exosuit intended to facilitate mechanic work, its powerful welding beam and prestigious strength make it a more than capable combat vehicle in its own right.

    Jill is a short-ish young woman with pale skin, chin-length dark red hair often worn in a low ponytail or short twintails, and a line of freckles crossing the bridge of her nose. She is often seen wearing mechanic's overalls or big, poofy Victorian-esque dresses, and almost never without her trusty giant red wrench. She is perpetually upbeat and curious, although with a somewhat crude sense of humor at times.

    Spoiler: Complications
    Show
    Diesel Girl: Jill comes from a very different universe where mass adoption of electricity never happened. She has a great deal of difficulty interfacing with modern electronics, and has very little understanding of the modern world.

    Innocent: Jill comes from a world where many of the societal evils that plagued humanity have been solved. She has lived such a charmed life that she is incapable of understanding why the problems of the modern world persist, and tends to approach them with an almost child-like perspective. This can cause her to easily offend people and be vulnerable to deception.

    Problem-Solver: Jill is an engineer; when she sees a problem she wants to find a solution. And the modern world has a lot of problems: crime, intolerance, poverty, corruption, war, disease. Whenever she sees a problem she requires a firm hand to keep from dropping everything to try and solve it.

    Tech Freak: Jill just looooves technology! She can't resist an opportunity to check out some unusual piece of kit, and destroying works of engineering is absolutely out of the question -- even when it's supervillainous tech!
    Last edited by LoonyLadle; 2021-11-02 at 01:39 AM.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Ettin in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Jacob Manwell aka Wildcard

    Spoiler: Description
    Show
    A young man in his mid twenties, Jacob is relatively good-looking but otherwise fairly unremarkable, with mid-length brown hair and grey eyes. He tends to dress in a variety of casual clothes which are nonetheless carefully chosen to avoid clashing colours and the like.

    As Wildcard, he wears a simple domino mask - white with a black outline - the majority of his identity concealment coming from his powers, which leave him a wild kaleidoscope of shimmering light and elemental power. One minute his hair might be bright red, spiky and burning with white-hot flames, and the next it might have turned into cascading water while swirling shrouds of darkness wrap around his body. The stronger his emotions, the more noticeable and quicker-changing his elemental raiment.


    Spoiler: Background
    Show
    Jacob Manwell and Rachel MacCoyd were...well, basically the stereotypical 'childhood friends/neighbours turned boyfriend/girlfriend.' They started dating during their high school years (the fact that they didn't go to the same high school wasn't much of a problem, mostly because Rachel could just, like, fly across the state in a couple minutes when she was allowed free time outside school grounds), bought a place together with the aid of their respective parents' finances when they graduated, and were generally just, like, the cutest couple.

    They were both supers, in the common-or-garden 'inexplicably develop powers at a young age' sense - Rachel was your average flying brick type, while Jake's powers were a little more...confusing. Strictly speaking, he could create and manipulate various forms of energy, matter and anti-energy. It was a pretty substantial skillset...which would have been distinctly more useful if he'd actually had any control over what form of reality he was manipulating at any given time. His childhood was...not the greatest - barely a week went by that he didn't end up messing something up with his haphazard powers, drenching himself in water instead of retrieving his rucksack from where some bullies had hung it, setting the teacher's potted plant on fire instead of helping it grow, etc. The only reason it wasn't a lot worse was that Rachel had no such issues about control, and even if she would've never actually used her superstrength, flight, etc on one of their classmates, just overtly sticking up for Jake was more than enough to dissuade the worst of the bullying.

    Of course, to some extent, that only made it harder for him, and made him more determined to control his powers, which led to more attempts at using them, which led to more mishaps, which led to more bullying, which led to Rachel standing up for him more, which led to...you get the idea.

    That might have been why - despite Rachel's attempts to convince him to apply - he didn't go to St Ambrose when she did. It was bad enough her reminding him how useless his powers were, never mind being surrounded by nothing but awesome heroes-in-training who would've hammered the point home even more conclusively. All the same, he did want to be a hero - admittedly, mostly to impress her, but still - and since they spent most of their time during the holidays together anyway, he managed to persuade Rachel to pass on the hero-ing lessons she'd learned at St Ambrose to him. And, y'know, you might think that second-hand lessons coupled with badly-controlled powers could have ended in disaster, but actually he legitimately did manage to gain some measure of control over his powers, at least enough that he could stand up to Rachel in a sparring match for, like, almost twenty seconds before getting flattened. (Some observers might have wondered if his developing control was less a facet of his own improving ability to actually control his powers and more simply down to his powers responding to his desire to impress her.)

    When they moved to New Harbour, he was not in the least surprised that Rachel - using her heroic pseudonym of Centuria - joined the Protectorate. Nor was he surprised that she tried to convince him to join too, but he steadfastly refused. All the same, he did end up learning a fair bit about the Protectorate's workings, just because, well, they had to have a secret room installed in their home for storing Rachel's supersuit, a special computer that could connect to the one at the Protectorate's base, and generally she didn't really care how much her boyfriend knew about her life as a hero. To some extent he kinda enjoyed the vicarious heroics through her first-hand retelling of events. Sometimes when she was out doing solo heroics he even served as her support - from the safety of their house, over the Protectorate communication channels, that is. It wasn't that he wasn't strong enough to handle most of the threats out there (or at least not be as helpless as your average civilian), but...actually going out and fighting was her thing, not his. And as it turned out, tactical advice and overwatch and all that kind of thing was something he was actually kinda good at.

    It was a couple years after they'd moved to New Harbour that Alchemaster attacked.

    As much as Alchemaster was the most dangerous threat the city had ever faced, as much as the initial attack caused carnage...Jacob never once doubted that the Protectorate would win. Moreover, he never once doubted that Rachel would be fine, and even if their house got wrecked they could just move back in, rebuild, and she'd have another story to tell.

    And then she didn't.

    It wasn't just losing his girlfriend. His whole life, Rachel had been this strong, confident, invulnerable beacon of hope. To say he'd put her on a pedestal would almost be putting it mildly. And so on top of the fact that his girlfriend, who he'd always assumed he'd spend the rest of his life with, was gone and he'd never see her again...if someone as perfect as her couldn't survive this world, what hope did a loser like him have?

    The funeral gave him closure, a little. And then he discovered that - thanks to a typically-foresighted decision to take the hard drive of the Protectorate computer in their home with him when he'd evacuated the city - he now had one of the most intact repositories of the Protectorate's data that was left after the carnage wrought by the battle with Alchemaster.

    And he knew that - no matter what - Rachel would never forgive him if he just lay down and never tried to do anything.

    Among the data he'd kept was a list of the backup stashes the Protectorate had left around the city. And in all the rebuilding, no-one questioned just one more person picking through the wreckage. But by the time things were beginning to get back to normal, Jake had amassed a respectable amount of gear.

    He just needed someone to use it.

    Originally stepping up as a hero was just going to be a temporary gig - he still had very little control over his powers, after all. But he'd begun to realise that...once he stopped worrying about them messing him up (because he was too busy worrying about not living up to the heights of Rachel's success) he could actually kinda handle his random powers. The same tactical acumen that had served him well directing Centuria from behind the scenes worked just as well in the field.

    And maybe working as a hero like this would mean that some part of them would always be connected. That he'd never have to say a final goodbye.


    Spoiler: Mechanics
    Show
    Defences (26 points)
    Defence 6 (6 points)
    Toughness 14 (from powers)
    Fort 8 (8 points)
    Will (12 points)

    Powers (83 points)

    Amplify Elements - Enhanced Control Elements 20, Limited (Move Action), Enhanced Dynamic Alternate Effect 1, Limited (Move Action) - 11 points

    Control Elements - 50-point Dynamic array + 6 alternates, Quirk 5 (five of the alternates - marked with an asterisk - are not entirely under his control; instead he chooses how many points to invest, in increments of 10, into the five of them as a whole, and then rolls a d5 to determine where the points are distributed; this *can* cause him to waste points if he rolls incompatible choices), Quirk 0 (can only invest up to 50 points in the semi-random slots, even if he has more points available in the array as a whole), Quirk 5 (Individual slots can go up to 50 points, but he only actually has 40 points available to invest), Feature (can dynamically Link up to three effects) = 54 points
    Personal Energy Control - 48 points
    Wobbling Flight - Flight 10, Platform [10]
    Energy Jets - Remove Platform [10]
    Energy Sheathe - Feature (can pick willing targets up as a free action) [1]
    Energy Titan - Feature 3 (can grow up to Size Rank 1) [3]
    Flexible Titan Form - Insubstantial 1 (Limited [Only in enlarged forms; his human body retains the same flexibility]) [4]
    Resilient Titan Form - Enhanced Insubstantial 1 (Limited, Limited [Only confers half immunity to physical attacks; no other effects]) [3]
    Kinetic Control - Strength 14 [14]
    Energy Armour - Immunity 2 (Critical Hits) [2]
    Energy Precision - Feature (never suffers penalties to manipulate objects for being too big or fluid) [1]

    Project Energy - 50 points
    Elemental Blast - Damage 10, Enhanced Extra [Variable Descriptor 2 (Elemental Themes)] (Uncontrolled) [12]
    Mystic Blast- Damage gains Alternate Resistance: Will [10]
    Mystic Power - Variable [Extras] 1 (Free Action, Limited 2 [Only to apply Affects Insubstantial 2 to up to 2 effects], Limited [Must lock the Dynamic points into this power before using it, even if they were assigned to this effect last round, and must always spend points as though the effect costs at least 1/rank even if it costs less], Reduced Duration) [5]
    Dangerous Blasts - Improved Critical 3 [3]
    Energy Whip - Extra Limbs 5 (Sustained, Projection) [10]
    Project Whips - Increased Range 10 (1 mile) [10]

    *Polar Midnight (Burst) - 48 points
    Shadow - Concealment Attack [All Visual] (Blending) [4]
    Midnight - Remove Blending [4]

    Freeze - Affliction 10 [Vulnerable/Defenceless/Paralysed, Resisted by Fort] [10]

    Bewildering Darkness - Affliction 10 [Entranced/Compelled/Controlled, Resisted by Will] (Limited [Only to randomise targets of actions]) [5]
    Nightmare - Remove Limit [5]

    Layered Power - Variable [Extras] 4 (Free Action, Limited 2 [Only to apply Cumulative to up to 2 effects], Limited [Must lock the Dynamic points into this power before using it, even if they were assigned to this effect last round, and must always spend points as though the effect costs at least 1/rank even if it costs less], Reduced Duration) [20]

    *Meteor Swarm (Shapeable) - 50 points
    Blind - Affliction 10 [Impaired/Disabled/Incapacitated, Will] (Limited [Visual]) [5]
    Scorch - Remove Limit from Blind [5]

    Precipice - Create 10 (Stationary, Reduced Range, Quirk [Must start adjacent to something solid]) [9]
    Island In The Sky - Remove Quirk [1]

    Hardened Crust - Add Impervious [10]

    Ignite - Variable [Extras] 4, Free Action (Free Action, Limited 2 [Only to apply Secondary Effect to up to 2 effects], Limited [Must lock the Dynamic points into this power before using it, even if they were assigned to this effect last round, and must always spend points as though the effect costs at least 1/rank even if it costs less], Reduced Duration) [20]

    *Storm of Vengeance (Cylinder) - 49 points
    Gust - Move Object 10 (Reduced Range, Limited [Away]) [5]
    Whirling Winds - Remove Limit [5]

    Zap - Affliction 10 [Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated, Resisted by Fort] [10]

    Wind Wall - Deflect (Limited [Projectiles], Reduced Range) [4]
    Aerorepulsion - Remove Limit [1]
    Solid Fog - Environment 1 [Impede Movement 2, Visibility 2] [4]

    Guiding Winds - Variable [Extras] 2 (Free Action, Limited 2 [Only to apply Selective to one effect], Limited [Must lock the Dynamic points into this power before using it, even if they were assigned to this effect last round, and must always spend points as though the effect costs at least 1/rank even if it costs less], Reduced Duration) [10]

    Tornado - Variable [Extras] 2 (Free Action, Limited 2 [Only to apply Contagious to one effect], Limited [Must lock the Dynamic points into this power before using it, even if they were assigned to this effect last round, and must always spend points as though the effect costs at least 1/rank even if it costs less], Reduced Duration) [10]

    *Weird (Cloud) - 50 points
    Hindering Ground - Weaken Speed 10 (Limited [Non-Cumulative]) [5]
    Gravity Pull - Add Broad [Movement] [5]

    No Escape - Add Simultaneous [10]

    Distort Space - Weaken Attack Bonus 10 [10]

    Disintegrate - Variable 4 (Free Action, Limited 2 [Only to apply Alternate Resistance: Defence to up to 2 effects], Limited [Must lock the Dynamic points into this power before using it, even if they were assigned to this effect last round, and must always spend points as though the effect costs at least 1/rank even if it costs less], Reduced Duration) [20]

    *Control Plants (Cone) - 50 points
    Spores - Weaken Stamina 10 [10]

    Vine Snare - Affliction 10 [Hindered+Vulnerable/Defenceless+Immobilised, Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Stealth or Damage] [10]

    Leech Life - Healing 10 (Restorative, Limited [Only if a Linked attack hits], Limited [Degrees of success on Healing capped by degrees of failure against the attack]) [10]

    Regenerate Armour - Regeneration 10 [10]

    Winding Vines - Indirect 4, Ricochet 2, Precise, Split 1, Homing 1 [10]

    Full Power [from Amplify Energy]- 50 points
    Greater Energy Control - Variable [Extras] 4 (Free Action, Limited [Only to apply one instance of any form of Area to up to 2 effects], Limited [Can only choose a form of Area that matches the keyed area for an active elemental power], Limited [Must lock the Dynamic points into this power before using it, even if they were assigned to this effect last round, and must always spend points as though the effect costs at least 1/rank even if it costs less], Reduced Duration) [20]
    Project Energy - Variable [Extras] 4 (Free Action, Limited 2 [Only to apply Multiattack to up to 2 effects], Limited [Must lock the Dynamic points into this power before using it, even if they were assigned to this effect last round, and must always spend points as though the effect costs at least 1/rank even if it costs less], Reduced Duration) [20]
    Magna Energy - Variable [Extras] 2 (Free Action, Limited 2 [Only to apply Penetrating 10 to one effect], Limited [Must lock the Dynamic points into this power before using it, even if they were assigned to this effect last round, and must always spend points as though the effect costs at least 1/rank even if it costs less], Reduced Duration) [10]

    Elemental Raiment - Protection 14, Noticeable, Activation (free; 0 point quirk) - 13 points

    Gadget Store - Variable 1 [equipment], Limited 2 (1PP), Limited (no individual item can cost more than 2EP), Slow - 3 points

    Collapsible Domino Mask - Feature 1 (Quick Change) - 1 point

    Quick Thinker - Quickness 2 (Limited: Mental) - 1 point

    Skills (20 points)
    Persuasion 20
    Expertise 20
    - The Protectorate, Law [+10 only], Superpowers, Cooking, Housework, Tactics, RPGs, Games [+10 only], Fashion, Scholastic, Current Events, Popular Culture, Superheroes/Supervillains, New Harbour, Law Enforcement, History [+10 only], Science [+10 only], Magic [+10 only], Aliens [+10 only], Writing, Art
    - 2 EP

    Advantages (21 points)
    Attractive 2
    Interpose
    Power Attack
    All-out Attack
    Evasion 2
    Assessment
    Well-Informed
    Takedown 2
    Teamwork
    Benefit 2 (Passionate: Can use Persuasion to incite positive emotions and certain negative emotions eg guilt, similar to using Intimidation to incite fear)
    Equipment 3
    Benefit 2 (Tactical Analysis: Can use Expertise (Tactics) for Assessment and initiative)
    Benefit 1 (Security Clearance [he has access to old Protectorate data])
    Holding Back 1
    Move-by Action
    Uncanny Dodge

    Equipment (15+2 EP)
    Costume Integrations - Commlink, GPS, Computer, Video Camera, Flashlight - 6 EP

    Smart Phone - 2 EP

    Hidden Hero Room - Headquarters (Miniscule) - 9 EP
    - Communications, Computer, Security System 5, Power System, Concealed 5


    Spoiler: Power Descriptions
    Show
    Amplify Elements [Superpower] [Reality Warping]- By taking a moment to concentrate, Jake can amplify his powers, allowing him to create more powerful effects or affect multiple targets.

    Control Elements [Superpower] [Reality Warping] - Jake's primary power is the ability to control a wide range of elemental powers, ranging from darkness to fire to plantlife. The closest he's come to a scientific explanation is that he has the ability to create 'proto-energy,' a mysterious substance that he can control with his powers to cause it to transmute into various forms of energy or matter, or even into into 'anti-energy' substances that draw in the energy from the world around them. Unfortunately, he doesn't have very much control over his power - he's pretty good at manipulating his proto-energy while it's in contact with him, but once he pushes enough power into it that he can project it away from himself, he kinda tends to lose control of exactly what he's creating.
    Personal Energy Control
    Wobbling Flight & Energy Jets - By projecting pulses of energy from his arms, legs, eyes, or generally whatever body part happens to be pointing in the opposite direction of where he wants to go, Jake can bounce himself somewhat awkwardly through the air. If he was more athletic, it might look like a graceful sort of super-powered parkour. As it is, it just kinda looks like the poor guy turns himself into a pinball. If he dedicates more power to it, though, he can support himself more consistently and steadily, and with a bare minimum of accidentally flipping himself upside-down.
    Energy Sheathe - Jake can extent his own natural barrier around other people or objects with relative ease, and if he reinforces it enough, he can use it to bring them along with him when he catapults himself up into the air.
    Energy Titan, Flexible Titan Form, Resilient Titan Form & Energy Precision - By pushing his barrier outwards, Jake can take the form of a somewhat-amorphous, vaguely humanoid shaped figure standing up to 60ft tall. While somewhat inconvenient when it comes to, for instance, getting a cup of coffee from a normal-sized cafe, it does have its advantages - if he pushes more energy into it, he can reshape his larger 'body' and make himself malleable enough that he can soften the impacts of people falling onto him, or resist most physical attacks by dint of simply having too much mass for them to matter. No matter how big he makes himself, though, he can still manipulate things just as dexterously as he could in person.
    Kinetic Control [Telekinetic] - By pushing more proto-energy into his barrier, Jake can create a powerful kinetic force that can support massive loads of weight.
    Energy Armour - Jake can use his barrier to protect his eyes, throat, and other vulnerable areas, leaving him with no weak spots.

    Project Energy
    Elemental Blast [Force or (Various Elements)]- Jake's most basic power - he can conjure up a sphere of...some element or other, usually even he's not really sure what until it happens...and slam someone with it. The energy disperses if it gets too far away from him, so it's very much a melee attack.
    Mystic Blast [Mystical] - Jake's reality warping powers allow him to directly attack the soul of his target, instead of their physical form.
    Mystic Power [Mystical] - And since souls generally aren't on the physical plane anyway, he doesn't have much issue hitting ghosts and the like.
    Dangerous Blasts - Usually Jake's Elemental Blasts are kinda sphere-y, but he can shape them into more cone-like forms with a little effort, allowing him to strike a target's weak points more easily.
    Energy Whip - Generally speaking Jake has a hard time controlling his power when it isn't in direct contact with him; to make up for that hindrance he's learned to form a half dozen kinda pseudopods of force that he can use to manipulate objects, lift things, and so on. And since they're just made up of mystical reality warping energy, he can poke them into raging infernos, acid, etc, without really caring.
    Project Whips - He can also stretch them up to a mile away - assuming he can actually see where the heck he's trying to put them.

    Polar Midnight
    Shadow & Midnight [Darkness] - Jake can cover a target in clinging shadows that camouflage them (it's more a metaphysical darkness than actual darkness, so it can work just fine in broad daylight.) They're relatively easy to brush off, and even just vigorous motion can disperse them unless he pushes more energy into them.

    Freeze [Ice] - Your average 'freeze the bad guys solid' ice power. The ice continually regrows, so while a target can break free of the weaker stages easily enough to throw a punch, fire a death ray, or whatever, it makes it pretty hard for them to react fast enough to dodge an attack.

    Bewildering Darkness & Nightmare [Darkness] [Mental] - By shrouding a target's eyes, Jake can make it impossible for them to distinguish friend from foe - or completely rewrite their perceptions of reality, tricking them into taking actions that they never would otherwise.

    Layered Power [Meta-Power] - By controlling the metaphysical essence of darkness and ice, Jake can cause his powers to layer over themselves, making the effects more pronounced the more times he uses them.

    *Meteor Swarm
    Blind & Scorch [Light / Fire and Pain]- At low levels, a brief flash of fire can produce a bright light that temporarily blinds a target. Jake rarely uses this power at max power, but when he does, the blinding effect is mostly lost beneath the pain of being lightly fried.

    Precipice & Island In The Sky [Earth] - Jake can create stone structures as hard as steel, either attached to a solid surface or just kinda hanging in mid-air in stark defiance of gravity. He generally can't sustain such structures for long, though (as his array randomisation will often cause him to switch away from this slot)

    Hardened Crust [Earth] - By pushing more power into his structures, Jake can make them sturdy enough to turn aside most small arms fire with ease.

    Ignite [Meta-Power] - By controlling the metaphysical essence of volcanic lava, Jake can cause his powers to start 'fires' where they land, though these 'fires' are purely manifestations of building energy, and he will often end up creating blue flames that erupt into a wave of cold or the like.

    *Storm of Vengeance
    Gust & Whirling Winds [Air] [Kinetic] - Jake can create a blast of air capable of hurling weights of up to 25 tons away, or whirling windstorms that can pick up and manipulate such objects however he pleases.

    Zap [Electric] - A bolt of lightning is usually pretty good at getting people to stop what they're doing.

    Wind Wall & Aerorepulsion [Air] [Kinetic] - Jake can shield a target in a whirling gale, protecting them from most projectile attacks - or, with a little more power, from anything that has to pass through the barrier.
    Solid Fog [Air] [Water] - He can also create a wind-filled fog that makes a little hard to see and move.

    Guiding Winds [Meta-Power] [Air] - By conjuring winds infused with his power, Jake can protect allies or innocent bystanders from his own powers.

    Tornado [Meta-Power] - By controlling the metaphysical essence of wind, Jake can cause his powers to spread from target to target, like a tornado sweeping up everything that it comes in contact with.

    *Weird
    Hindering Ground [Spatial] - By manipulating space, Jake can cause the ground to resist allowing his target to move, making it like running on a treadmill.
    Gravity Pull [Gravity] - By manipulating gravity, he can instead cause the air, or the water, or the fabric of space-time itself to resist the movement in the same way.

    No Escape [Spatial] - With more power, he can make it harder for a target to move anywhere, no matter what mode of movement they try.

    Distort Space [Spatial] - By warping space around a target, he can make it harder for them to strike with any accuracy.

    Disintegrate [Meta-Power] - By channeling the power of the depths of space, Jake can charge his powers with an eldritch force that can carve through almost any traditional defence.

    *Control Plants
    Spores [Plant] - Jake can unleash a handful of spores that hamper their victim's physiology. Since this is perhaps one of his most dangerous attacks, he very rarely actually uses it, no matter how strong the temptation is.

    Vine Snare [Plant] [Grapple] - By creating a vine that wraps around a target, Jake can restrain them or pin them in place.

    Leech Life [Plant] [Life] - By infusing his effects with plant spores, he can cause the energy his attacks sap to be transferred to himself or another.

    Regenerate Armour [Plant] - By drawing on the essence of plants, Jake can rapidly generate more energy that he can funnel into his elemental armour.

    Winding Vines [Meta-Power] - By infusing his attacks with the essence of plants, Jake can cause them to take on the properties of vines - although in practice it makes them look more like snakes, sending them writhing around corners and even continuing to seek out a target after he takes his attention off them.

    Full Power [Meta-Power] -
    Greater Energy Control - By pushing more energy into an attack, Jake can cause it to affect multiple targets - an omnidirectional blast for ice and darkness, a shaped crack in the ground that issues forth energy for earth and fire, a tornado for air and lightning, an ominous fog for space and eldritch forces, or a spiralling eruption of plantlife.
    Project Energy - Alternatively, he can target his attacks more precisely, at the cost of accuracy.
    Magna Energy - Or he can just make them more powerful, capable of breaking through even the strongest defences.

    Elemental Raiment [Superpower] [Reality Warping] - Jake's physiology was permanently enhanced at the moment he got his powers; he doesn't suffer all the usual minor aches and pains that most people do, he can't get drunk (something he has been frustrated by on a regular basis following Rachel's death), and generally he's pretty resistant to poisons and diseases and such. But in terms of actual physical damage, he's no tougher than an ordinary human. Fortunately, he's learned to create a more-or-less-skin-tight barrier of energy around himself that can protect him from attacks. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the rest of his powers, it's very obvious, which is convenient for him, since it serves as a large part of his identity concealment, but it also means he can't keep it active during his day-to-day civilian life.
    The 0-point 'quirk' represents that while he can activate it quickly enough - and will usually have it up when acting as a hero - if he's genuinely surprised, it might not be active. The reason this is not an actual quirk worth any points, nor a Complication, is that the Activation 'flaw' confers a significant benefit to a Noticeable Permanent effect, at least for a character like Jake who cares about his secret identity: being able to turn the darn thing off!

    Gadget Store [Tech] - Over the five years since Alchemaster's attack, Jake has amassed a pretty sizeable amount of old Protectorate gear, like commlinks and such. It's kinda his hobby. Most of it's pretty minor, and he's keeping it mostly to stop it getting sold or passed on to villains, but bits and pieces come in useful on occasions.

    Collapsible Domino Mask [Tech] [Nanite] - Jake was given this 'hairpin' by Rachel, back when she was trying to convince him to go out in the field with her. He never did, but he pretty much always wore it in its disguised form anyway. With a quick press of the clip, however, he can convert it into a domino mask with translucent eye-slots that go a pretty good way to disguising his facial features - and his powers do the rest.

    Quick Thinker [Skill] - Jake might not be absolutely the most intelligent guy out there, but for someone without any mental-boosting superpowers, he's pretty quick to figure things out and make plans, something he's discovered is a quite useful knack given how he has to adapt to his wild powers with only about a second's advance warning of what they're actually gonna do at any given moment. over the people he's trying to use them on.


    Spoiler: Complications
    Show
    For Memories (Motivation: Doing Good) - Okay, sure, to some extent Jake is doing the whole 'heroics' thing because it makes him feel closer to Rachel. But that doesn't diminish the fact that...he actually does like helping people, and he does feel like it's the right thing to do.

    What Could Have Been (Quirk/Temper) - ...even if that does mean that more and more he finds himself wondering whether things could have been different if he'd joined Rachel in the field instead of supporting her from behind the scenes. Sometimes he can find himself getting lost in the idea. Kinda the flip side of this is that he absolutely hates people saying that the Protectorate should have done a better job of protecting the city, or wondering why they didn't do X, Y or Z. He's more than willing to criticise his own past actions, but no-one criticises theirs.

    I Cast Magic Missile! Wait, No. (Weakness/Power Loss) - So, when Jake and Rachel were kinda-sorta dating as teenagers, in amidst learning how to control their respective powers and, y'know, actually going out on dates and stuff, they played RPGs. It was more Jake's thing than Rachel's, to be honest. But long story short, being able to visualise a massive array of magical powers...actually kinda helped Jake visualise his own powers. So yeah, for a while there he was envisaging his powers as various fantasy spells. As his control of his powers grew greater, he stopped needing the whole fantasy thing as a crutch as much, but...well, Rachel's death caused a pretty significant backwards step as far as the whole 'control' thing went. Nowadays he once again finds that he has better control of his powers when viewed through the lens of fantasy mages. For the most part this is pretty minor - I mean, about the worst that could happen is he ends up accidentally yelling out a 'spell' in the middle of combat, and I mean like this is a world where magic legitimately exists. I guess maybe a real wizard might be a bit ticked off about it. No, the much bigger concern about all this is the fact that...well, Jake can only use his powers because he envisages them as spells. He doesn't claim to be a wizard or anything, but if by chance he happens to end up in a situation where a real magician might have difficulty using their magic - or at least, a situation he thinks a real magician might have difficulty, whether or not that's actually the case - his own powers can go on the fritz.

    The Ones Left Behind (Relationships/Responsibilities) - Jake met all the other members of the Protectorate to various degrees, but at least once or twice. How much he knows about them - particularly their real identities, if like Centuria they weren't publicly known - is up to the GM, but between his own connection to the Protectorate and his Protectorate data store, it's quite plausible he may well know about other people like him: close friends or loved ones of the Protectorate mourning their loss. He's not made any attempt to seek them out - Rachel's secret wasn't his to share, if nothing else - but if he happens to find out about one of them being in trouble, he's likely to go to some lengths to help them out.

    Not A Real Hero (Enemies/Rivalries) - Okay, yeah, Jake doesn't have the pedigree of a fancy superhero school, and pre-Alchemaster he spent his time advising from the safety of his own home. Some people - on both sides of the hero/villain divide - sometimes end up with the impression that he's not much better than a glorified sidekick. Villains might target him in the hopes of using him as leverage against other heroes, heroes might decide he doesn't have what it takes to be a hero and try to get him sidelined. And even-tempered as he tends to be, Jake has absolutely no qualms about standing up for his own ability to be a hero. It's taken him this long to actually muster the courage to take that step, he's not going to let anyone claim it was the wrong move.

    Reality Is Hard, Y'All (Accident) - Badly-controlled reality warping powers can sometimes cause things to happen Jake wasn't really intending, no surprise there. It does tend to be a bit more common when he's feeling strong emotions, so, y'know, good thing he isn't living in a city his girlfriend sacrificed herself to protect where there's tons of stuff to remind him of her. Oh, wait...

    Living Up To The Legend (Responsibility/Temper) - Being a hero - or rather, Hero - means something. Jake takes that responsibility seriously, and while he's certainly not the kind of guy to be all work and no play, when 'on the job,' so to speak...yeah, he takes things seriously, and he expects other heroes - and to some extent other people in similar positions of authority or responsibility - to do the same. People that don't do so tend to irritate him a bit.

    The Man Behind The Mask (Secret) - Jake keeps his secret identity...well, secret, just as Rachel did. Admittedly, the only reason Rachel kept her identity secret was to make sure no-one came after him to get at her and he doesn't exactly have that to worry about, but it's one of the many things he's just kinda kept going with without really considering it.

    Die. (Hatred) - Jake doesn't kill. Y'know, it's kinda one of those hero things. When it comes to Alchemaster, if he had the opportunity, he would certainly consider making an exception.


    Regarding whether we know each other - I figure Jake will at minimum have vaguely been aware of Cpt Rutherford, maybe Jill (I'm not sure how long she's been in the city) and Scylla, but if my understanding of the timeline is correct, I don't think Jake would know much about Platformer and Pending Objective beyond what just his skills and Well-Informed can give him; Alchemaster's attack and Rach's death would've happened before all that since it was five years before the current IC date. For his part, as Wildcard he's been acting as a minor hero for a couple years now, so it's plausible he's crossed paths with...I guess anyone except Kevin?

    As for an average day...well, in his mundane, day-to-day life, he doesn't have a job - he's been getting by mostly on what he inherited from Rachel courtesy of the financial support she got from the Protectorate and the city - so he basically just spends his time trawling through forums and stuff looking for signs of Protectorate tech resurfacing that he will either bid on in his personal identity (posing as just one of the many seekers of Protectorate memorabilia) or, if necessary, take by force as Wildcard at a later date. Aside from that, he spends an unhealthy respectable amount of time out in the field doing just minor heroics and good deeds and all that.
    Last edited by Llyarden; 2022-03-17 at 11:59 AM.
    "Follow the moonwalking Nosepass!"
    "Can you put the lich in a box?"

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Dr.Gunsforhands's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2008

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Spoiler: Scylla's sheet, Latest Edition (2022/March/18)
    Show
    Quote Originally Posted by Dr.Gunsforhands
    SCYLLA


    Spoiler: Character Sheet
    Show
    Flowing Form

    Scylla's skin is smooth and iridescent, with razor fins on her arms, legs, head and back. At will, she can change back to Iara with her dark braided hair and wide eyes, or else merge into a puddle of water and have no appearance at all. In all her forms, she's confident in her body and very hard to restrain.
    Defense: 15 (15 pts)
    Toughness: 5 (5 pts)
    Fortitude: 10 (10 pts)
    Will: 10 (10 pts)
    - [Mystical] Insubstantial 1, Precise, Subtle 2, Permanent (8 pts)
    - Immunity 3, Cold Water, High Pressure, Drowning (3 pts)
    - Senses: Accurate Hearing (2 pts)
    - [Persona] Morph 1: Scylla (5 pts)
    - - [Water, Mystical, Alternate] Concealment 10 (All Senses), Passive, Source: Water to merge into (1 pt)

    Siren's Attacks

    The monster can slash with her fins or unleash her siren song.
    - [Persona, Mystical, Sound, Psychic] Affliction 10 vs. Will: Entrance/Compel, Limited degree, Area: Perception/Hearing (10 pts)
    - - [Persona, Slashing, Alternate] Damage 5, Multiattack (1 pt)
    - - [3/18/22] [Persona, Mystical, Sound, Psychic, Water] Same Affliciton, Linked: Force of the Sea, uses the area or range of the linked attack (1 pt)

    She's Here

    Looks like the ocean followed her. It's hard to tell whether she's even doing it on purpose at this point.
    - [Water, Mystical] Environment 4, Impede Movement: 2 ranks, Feature: Can use with 0 ranks to quietly fill the area with an inch of seawater, Limited: effect flows down uneven terrain and off small platforms, Limited: one can just fly over or swim through it (3 pts)
    - - [3/18/22] [Water, Mystical] As above, but Linked with Force of the Sea; the area is effectively flooded with the water generated by a Force of the Sea effect.

    Force of the Sea

    Scylla is the ocean's destructive nature, reaching out to consume the land and all of its delicious sandcastles. The sea follows her, allowing her to form a waist-deep beach in the desert and summon crashing waves from nowhere.
    - [Water, Mystical, Telekinetic] Create 10, Limited: Seawater, Stationary, Movable (21 pts)
    - - [Water, Mystical, Telekinetic, Suffocation, Alternate] Affliction 10 vs. Fortitude: Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated, Area: 60-ft. Cone, Cumulative, Limited: Water's Surface (1 pt)
    - - [Water, Mystical, Telekinetic, Bludgeoning, Alternate] Damage 10, Increased Range: 250/500/1000 (1 pt)
    - - [Water, Mystical, Telekinetic, Alternate] Move Object 10 (1 pt.)

    Movement Abilites

    It's no accident that she can summon a shaped column of water that hangs in the air. She developed the technique to the point where she can create her medium as she swims through it, as though she's traveling through a twisting translucent pipe. In conjunction with her hiding ability, she can to vanish into the water and reemerge elsewhere with no explanation of how she got there.
    - [Water, Mystical] Teleport 10, Medium: Water (10 pts)
    - - [Water, Mystical, Persona, Alternate] Flight 10, Platform (1 pt)
    - - [Water, Persona, Alternate] Speed 10, Benefit: Can swim at full speed, Partially Limited: 5 ranks are Swimming Only (1 pt)

    Augmented Skills

    A combination of powers and practice make up Iara's skillset. Scylla's legend boosts many of her abilities as long as she's in water.
    - Enhanced Trait: +10 Perception/Athletics/Stealth/Expertise, Limited: Aquatic (10 pts)

    Skills (28 pts):
    Mobility: +10 (+20 for swimming or aquatic initiative)
    Deception: +16
    Expertise: +10 (+20 to perform or analyze in water)
    - Proficiencies: Vocalist, Oceanography, Games, Portuguese, French, Karipuna Patois, +2 ep, +2 More
    Perception: +10 (+20 underwater)
    Stealth: +10 (+20 underwater)

    - [Advantage] Attractive 1 (1 pt)
    - [Advantage] Favored Environment (underwater) (1 pt)
    - [Advantage, Mystical] Benefit: voice carries through and across water (1 pt)

    Equipment:
    Waterproof Flip Phone (2 ep)


    Spoiler: Story Beats
    Show
    - Name: Iara Bailique Antônio
    - From a small town in Northern Brazil that was washed away by soil erosion
    - Her friend needed secret discount surgery to get into the priesthood
    - Shenanigans ensued, they both got kidnapped and trafficked to the States
    - Iara made a contract with a vague sea spirit to break them out
    - She eventually decides to call this her Scylla persona because she's a nerd
    - She swam back and forth from home to sort things out and fight the cartel

    (Flashback cut with the hazy filter)
    Spoiler: Early Adventures
    Show
    - In the course of her early back-and-forth across the Caribbean Sea, purely by chance, Scylla catches The Eternal in the middle of some cargo heist or another. She ruins the whole operation by disabling half of the pirates with spooky mermaid music. Rutherford duels her, wins, and absconds with his crew before the authorities arrive.
    - They have a few more run-ins. It's weird. Scylla can't really fight him unless she catches him red-handed, and he's mostly kind and helpful when she doesn't.
    - Fed up with Rutherford's antics, some Cuban government agency contracts with Lutra, who in turn hunts down Scylla. Lutra helps the young heroine with the arts of telekinesis and being sneaky in exchange for her help bringing down Blackcoat.
    - Together, Scylla and Lutra, 'confiscate,' The Eternal. Lutra doesn't give Scylla time to wonder what will be done with the riches on board, instead directing her to a high-profile trafficking shipment whose capture is extremely time-sensitive for some reason.
    - The cartel ship turns out to be ready for her. They have earmuffs and everything, and Lutra is suddenly no help at all. A certain red-haired woman locks Scylla in a ballast tank.
    - Rutherford, having read Scylla's mind in their earlier fight, figures out Lutra's convoluted scheme. He evades the Cuban authorities, shows up in a stolen speedboat and bails Scylla out.
    - It is revealed that Lutra was using Scylla as a distraction. While she knocked out criminals and washed them ashore, The Majesty's crew could take the stolen loot for themselves. Seeing how much this sucks, Scylla and Blackcoat join forces for real and steal back The Eternal.
    - To show up Lutra further, Blackcoat offers Iara his superior knowledge and resources to help find and defeat smugglers and kidnappers. Recognizing that he's not really a bad person, Iara returns Blackcoat's courtesy and even calls him a friend. To this day, they both try to avoid situations where Scylla might catch Blackcoat red-handed again.

    That's probably at least two years of antics already! Then, finally...

    - Alchemaster happens.
    - Sensing an opportunity, The Cartel quickly establishes itself in the power vacuum of New Harbor's criminal underbelly. A certain red-haired woman, whose name Iara never actually learned during their two trips together, takes up residence there. To combat the known aquatic menaces to their expanding operation, she and her bosses form an alliance with a certain upstart pirate lord, calling himself Blackbeard.
    - Meanwhile, Blackcoat and Scylla each find their way to the rebuilding city for their own reasons...

    (End flashback)

    Years later!
    - Her friend now goes by Jonah or Father Joe and works in a just-rebuilt church in New Harbor
    - He's Scylla's go-to for moral advice and knowledge of spirit mechanics
    - Scylla's not technically a demon or warlock, so that's good
    - Apparently the spirit is a symbiotic psychic critter that mimics mythological ideas

    - Scylla moved to New Harbor recently because that's where she's needed obviously
    - She's taken to living as Scylla and slowly developing a music career on the side
    - Also Iara technically isn't allowed to live here legally, but Scylla is
    - So now one identity has to deal with fame, and the other with not having legal ID


    Spoiler: Complications
    Show
    Rogue of Breath [Motivation: Justice]
    When Scylla has to make a judgement, she trusts her heart, trying to get the best result she can in the moment without worrying too much about long-term plans or legal ramifications. She's a firm believer in the doctrine that the ends don't justify the means, and her pet peeve is a villain who does terrible things and writes them off as Tough Decisions for the Greater GoodTM. What good will that do if the city is washed away tomorrow? This is a complication when she lands herself in legal hot water, leaps into danger without preparation, or messes up the team's long-term plans.

    Dubious Identity [Secret Identity / Fame / Social Status]
    Scylla's supernatural voice has a quality people are willing to pay to hear. She doesn't take them up on it often, but it's garnered her a degree of attention even beyond that of a typical hero. To combat this, she can live more quietly as Iara, but that comes with its own problem: Iara is marked for deportation from the States after a long history of showing up in the country without permission. These are complications when her status detains her at a bad time or brings the team under increased media scrutiny.

    Should've Bought Flood Insurance [Accident]
    All of Scylla's [Water] effects get salty seawater everywhere. It's a complication when it shorts out electronics, ruins important evidence, or risks getting someone electrocuted.

    Cartel Connections [Enemy]
    Somewhere in New Harbor, a certain chain-smoking red-haired woman with an unhealthy vindictive streak has recently become aware of a local rumor: the androgynous young pastor of the freshly-rebuilt St. Michael's was reassigned from somewhere in South America because New Harbor is more accepting of trans men. Morbidly curious, she staked out the place, and when she laid eyes on on Father Joe, she recognized him immediately. Those eyes, those hips. She had special plans for that kid, once. Then, suddenly, a weird fish lady appeared to ruin those plans and a hundred others besides. Now, the red-haired woman knows she's not getting that kid back, at least not the way she wanted. But, if she plays her cards right, she might be able to get at that self-righteous siren...
    Blackcoat's Friend [Enemy?] - Thanks to their previous adventures, any of Blackcoat's enemies or rivals might use Scylla to get to him.


    Spoiler: Party Connections/Archive
    Show
    - Already friends with Blackcoat from previous high-seas adventures
    - Did the voice of the villain in the Platformer video game

    Spoiler: Character Sheet(original)
    Show
    Flowing Form

    Scylla's skin is smooth and iridescent, with razor fins on her arms, legs, head and back. At will, she can change back to Iara with her dark braided hair and wide eyes, or else merge into a puddle of water and have no appearance at all. In all her forms, she's confident in her body and very hard to restrain.
    Defense: 15 (15 pts)
    Toughness: 5 (5 pts)
    Fortitude: 10 (10 pts)
    Will: 10 (10 pts)
    - [Mystical] Insubstantial 1, Precise, Subtle 2, Permanent (8 pts)
    - Immunity 3, Cold Water, High Pressure, Drowning (3 pts)
    - Senses: Accurate Hearing (2 pts)
    - [Persona] Morph 1: Scylla (5 pts)
    - - [Water, Mystical, Alternate] Concealment 10 (All Senses), Passive, Source: Water to merge into (1 pt)

    Siren's Attacks

    The monster can slash with her fins or unleash her siren song.
    - [Persona, Mystical, Sound, Psychic] Affliction 10 vs. Will: Entrance/Compel, Limited degree, Area: Perception/Hearing (10 pts)
    - - [Persona, Slashing, Alternate] Damage 5, Multiattack (1 pt)

    Force of the Sea

    Scylla is the ocean's destructive nature, reaching out to consume the land and all of its delicious sandcastles. The sea follows her, allowing her to form a waist-deep beach in the desert and summon crashing waves from nowhere.
    - [Water, Mystical] Environment 4, Impede Movement: 2 ranks, Feature: Can use with 0 ranks to quietly fill the area with an inch of seawater, Limited: effect flows down uneven terrain and off small platforms, Limited: one can just fly over or swim through it (3 pts)
    - [Water, Mystical, Telekinetic] Create 10, Limited: Seawater, Stationary, Movable (21 pts)
    - - [Water, Mystical, Telekinetic, Suffocation, Alternate] Affliction 10 vs. Fortitude: Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated, Area: 60-ft. Cone, Cumulative, Limited: Water's Surface (1 pt)
    - - [Water, Mystical, Telekinetic, Bludgeoning, Alternate] Damage 10, Increased Range: 250/500/1000 (1 pt)
    - - [Water, Mystical, Telekinetic, Alternate] Move Object 10 (1 pt.)

    Movement Abilites

    It's no accident that she can summon a shaped column of water that hangs in the air. She developed the technique to the point where she can create her medium as she swims through it, as though she's traveling through a twisting translucent pipe. In conjunction with her hiding ability, she can to vanish into the water and reemerge elsewhere with no explanation of how she got there.
    - [Water, Mystical] Teleport 10, Medium: Water (10 pts)
    - - [Water, Mystical, Persona, Alternate] Flight 10, Platform (1 pt)
    - - [Water, Persona, Alternate] Speed 10, Benefit: Can swim at full speed, Partially Limited: 5 ranks are Swimming Only (1 pt)

    Augmented Skills

    A combination of powers and practice make up Iara's skillset. Scylla's legend boosts many of her abilities as long as she's in water.
    - Enhanced Trait: +10 Perception/Athletics/Stealth/Expertise, Limited: Aquatic (10 pts)

    Skills (28 pts):
    Mobility: +10 (+20 for swimming or aquatic initiative)
    Deception: +16
    Expertise: +10 (+20 to perform or analyze in water)
    - Proficiencies: Vocalist, Oceanography, Games, Portuguese, French, Karipuna Patois, +2 ep, +2 More
    Perception: +10 (+20 underwater)
    Stealth: +10 (+20 underwater)

    - [Advantage] Attractive 1 (1 pt)
    - [Advantage] Favored Environment (underwater) (1 pt)
    - [Advantage, Mystical] Benefit: voice carries through and across water (1 pt)

    Equipment:
    Waterproof Flip Phone (2 ep)


    I'm inclined to assume that Scylla and Blackcoat started off as enemies. When Iara first got her powers, she didn't have any sense for how to pick her battles and had a special vendetta against smugglers and kidnappers in particular. She probably took one look at the skull on Rutherford's back and decided he was her arch-nemesis.

    Of course, that would have been like seven years ago. Scylla didn't have the benefit of academy training or anything; she would have been like 3 PLs lower than the experienced pirate, and I don't know what Blackcoat's approach would have been to a weird avenging fish girl back then. Maybe he took her on as a sidekick for a while, maybe they developed a friendly rivalry.

    Anyway. This is probably silly, but I can also imagine Kevin rescuing Jill and developing a weird complex about it. He might suspect that he accidentally created her himself, complete with false memories from some fictional video game setting. Anachronistic technology is certainly a common trope of the medium.
    Last edited by Dr.Gunsforhands; 2022-03-18 at 02:51 PM.

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Pixie in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2021

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Quote Originally Posted by Dr.Gunsforhands View Post
    This is probably silly, but I can also imagine Kevin rescuing Jill and developing a weird complex about it. He might suspect that he accidentally created her himself, complete with false memories from some fictional video game setting. Anachronistic technology is certainly a common trope of the medium.
    That could be fun and/or tragic, especially if Jill starts believing him!

    Quote Originally Posted by Llyarden View Post
    Regarding whether we know each other - I figure Jake will at minimum have vaguely been aware of Cpt Rutherford, maybe Jill (I'm not sure how long she's been in the city)...
    Ideally Jill has not been in the city for long, and has never really been operating as a "superhero;" this would afford her the maximum opportunity to still be adorably wondered at modern technology.

  9. - Top - End - #9
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    SwashbucklerGuy

    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Captain Stanley 'Blackcoat' Rutherford

    Spoiler: Mechanics
    Show
    Skills (47 PP):
    Deception +18 (9)
    Expertise +10 (5)
    Insight +8 (4)
    Intimidation +18 (9)
    Mobility +8 (4)
    Perception +8 (4)
    Persuasion +18 (9)
    Stealth +6 (3)
    Technology 0
    Treatment 0

    Proficiencies (+10): Nautical, Criminal, History, Geography, (6 more)

    Advantages (21 PP):
    Accurate Attack
    All-Out Attack
    Defensive Attack
    Power Attack
    Takedown 2
    Inspire 3
    Leadership
    Assessment
    Benefit 5 (Wealth)
    Fearless
    Interpose
    Teamwork
    Contacts
    Connected

    Powers (52 PP):
    Pirate Lord's Coat (Device, Hard-To-Remove, 8 PP)
    - Protection 10

    Immortal Experience (Immunity 3: Age, Critical Hits, 2 PP)

    Seen 'em All, Know 'em All (Mind Reading 10, Subtle 2, Limited to Surface Thoughts, 7 PP)

    Five Hundred Years Too Old To Die (Regeneration 10, 10 PP)

    Pirate Lord's Skills & Charms (25 PP)
    - Cutlass of the Sharpest Metal (Damage 10 + Deflect 10; DC 25 Toughness)
    - Flurry of the High Seas (Damage 10 + Multiattack; DC 25 Toughness)
    - Painful Dirty Trick (Damage 10 + Weaken Toughness 10 (DC 25 Toughness + DC 20 Fortitude)
    - Flintlock of Endless Ammo (Damage 10, Increased Range: Ranged; DC 25 Toughness)
    - Crippling Cheap Shot (Damage 10, Affliction 10; Vulnerable/Defenseless/Asleep; DC 25 Toughness + DC 20 Fortitude)
    - The Pirate's Terrifying Presence (Affliction 10; Impaired/Disabled/Controlled; Burst Area; Selective; Limited [Impaired and Disabled only apply to active checks, Controlled can only force targets to back down, flee, surrender, etc]; DC 20 Will)

    Defense (30 PP):
    Toughness +10 (0)
    Defense: +10 (10 PP)
    Fortitude: +10 (10 PP)
    Will: +10 (10 PP)

    Total:
    Skills: 47 PP
    Advantages: 21 PP
    Powers: 52 PP
    Defense: 30 PP
    Total: 150 PP


    Spoiler: Complications
    Show
    He's A Pirate (Motivation, Greed): Blackcoat lives a life of piracy and gold. And while the centuries has eased his hand on who he hunts and targets, he remains a pirate lord who loves to plunder treasure and money, preferably ill-gotten money, when he can to add to his trove. He is spending it to help the city... but greed is still greed.

    To Be The Most Feared Seaman (Motivation, Recognition): Blackcoat has a reputation to uphold, and it's not one which port cities should forget. While one would think this means being a villainous terror who plunders cities when they're most vulnerable, Blackcoat would rather see a fallen city rise back into prosperity, both as a productive and impressive way of showing his wealth, and to uproot and take down any supervillain who thinks they can be a more notorious person than him.

    Too Big A Crew For Good Tides (Accident): Blackcoat has a lot, a lot, of crewmates, owing to him being a pirate lord and the ruler of many ships. Not all are fully loyal to him, and some have greater ambitions, or are less disciplined, than Blackcoat expects. This can cause unintended dilemmas, complications, and other unwanted scenarios that Blackcoat has to own up to.

    The Most Feared Pirate In The World (Fame): Blackcoat has not been subtle that he's been pirating for centuries. This sort of reputation, along with his changing policies in piracy and business across the sea and in port towns, has made him something of a celebrity for sailors, other pirates, and plenty of sea-faring people the world over. He's quite good at taking the spotlight and stealing the show... even when he doesn't want to.

    The Most FEARED Pirate In The World (Reputation): With piracy comes infamy, and plenty of law enforcement, vigilantes and other criminals who want to take down Blackcoat, one way or another.

    Gotta Invest, Gotta Protect (Responsibility): Blackcoat's best trait, perhaps, is the seriousness he takes in anything he helps out with, whether his crew, or New Harbour, or anyone he's promised to keep safe. He insists on keeping his word and doing what he's set out to achieve; no half-measures, even when it puts him in difficult positions.

    Captain Lutra (Rivalry): One of the many 'Freelance Peacekeeping Agents' who had unsuccessfully invaded Earth years ago. While most of their kind had fled, Lutra stayed with their flying and seafaring alien ship, "The Majesty" (according to Earth translators), partly out of a fascination for Earth's world and culture, and partly out of an interest they took in Blackcoat. Coming from their own, pirate-analogous world, Lutra sees themself as the greatest pirate in the land, and thus one who tries to out-perform Blackcoat whenever they meet.

    Blackbeard (Enemy): An old pirate who appeared in recent times. Whether they truly are the same Blackbeard, or one taking his name after the original's death so long ago, he and Blackcoat have bad blood toward each other, and Blackbeard, always accompanied by his elite pirates Anne and Mary, won't stop until the pirate lord drowns at the bottom of the ocean.

    Ye Better Start Believin' In Ghosts (Enemy): The seas have taken many a sailor or pirate, many of them being enemies of Blackcoat, or crewmates who fell with regrets. And the dead, as they say, do not rest. They come back for Blackcoat, on sea or land, and until put to rest, they do not stop coming after him and those he works with.


    Spoiler: Appearance
    Show
    Blackcoat is a British-born man looking roughly in his 40s. His skin appears partly-wrinkled but tough and sturdy. His body is athletically built and he is at a relative size of 6' 1''. Befitting his nickname, the captain hair is colored utter black, shaved to a short length so it fits snugly under his classic skull-and-bones pirate hat that's always on his head. His head is sharply chiseled, with a sharp chin and edge-lined eyes, stone-hard blue eyes. While he has a clean-shaven beard, he also has a thick, impressively-kept mustache stretching to the edges of his cheeks.

    Blackcoat's clothing more closely represent the style of the golden age of piracy compared to modern day clothing. His hard wooden shoes clank hard on ground surfaces, and he wears loose, baggy dark brown pants to accommodate for windy weather. He also wears a simple, loose white shirt and a long necklace made of fish bones. A leather belt holds his steel cutlass on his right hip, and his flintlock on his left. Most importantly, however, is his black coat. Large, thick, refined with leather and equally expensive, impressive, and unique, with a white skull on the back, the coat is the most important and iconic part of his outfit.


    Spoiler: Backstory
    Show
    The golden age of piracy was home to many heroes; some fought on the ground, others behind closed doors, others in meetings, and many out at sea. From the sea emerged sea-faring vigilantes, terrifying pirates, and all sorts in-between. This is the story of one in the middle.

    Stanley Rutherford was born a British man, calm, strong, and made for the sea. The notorious and quick-witted man rose up the ranks from a sailor all the way to captain, noted for his preference for black clothing to distinct himself from other pirates. Originally loyal to the crown, the soon-named Blackcoat strayed off to carve his own place in history, taking his ship, "The Eternal," and a large island in the Atlantic ocean for himself, bringing in those abandoned by others or seeking fame and fortune on the high seas. Gathering an increasingly larger crew of sailors and crew of ships, the brave pirate fought and pilfered other pirates, facing the greatest and scariest, including the infamous Blackbeard.

    But Blackcoat was a greedy man, and one who'd gladly scour the world for treasures not his own. And one day, he came upon a treasure belonging to a fallen king, one who cursed Blackcoat upon seizing the gold; the gold, now, was Blackcoat's responsibility to keep together, and with that, was the curse of immortality.

    And so he lived, past the many centuries, watching his crew come, go, live, die, while he lived through wars, upgraded technology, continued to amass a wealth matched by none.

    But as the world of supers emerged, Blackcoat's days of piracy changed. There was still heists and profits in the old seas, and he made shipments and smuggling between ports, but superheroes gave him a new avenue to explore. He was always a gallant and flashy fighter, one who'd be in the spotlight just like those heroes. Becoming a superhero, in the right place at the right time, feels perfectly natural to him.

    And more importantly, he had money, not just to hoard, but to spend. So when he hears about the destruction and rebuilding of Harbour City, he was one of the first to arrive and help finance the city's reconstruction. In doing so, he also took to the streets as a hero to keep the city safe; New Harbour needs new heroes, after all. If he wants to keep a place from being destroyed again, he'd have to do it himself.


    So I've still debated how famous Blackcoat would be, in general. I think he'd might be known as some mix of a folk hero for those who haven't met him, and a bit of a living legend for those who do, given how long he has been around for. That said, he's likely be more known and less folktale-esque in New Harbour, where he's been around and where The Eternal has likely been docked at. If any of the PCs have been in any prior, big events in the world, he might have heard about it from his contacts. But he largely operated out on the seas and at port cities until he helped with New Harbour, so I imagine hasn't directly met most of the other PCs until then.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dr.Gunsforhands View Post
    I'm inclined to assume that Scylla and Blackcoat started off as enemies. When Iara first got her powers, she didn't have any sense for how to pick her battles and had a special vendetta against smugglers and kidnappers in particular. She probably took one look at the skull on Rutherford's back and decided he was her arch-nemesis.

    Of course, that would have been like seven years ago. Scylla didn't have the benefit of academy training or anything; she would have been like 3 PLs lower than the experienced pirate, and I don't know what Blackcoat's approach would have been to a weird avenging fish girl back then. Maybe he took her on as a sidekick for a while, maybe they developed a friendly rivalry, maybe Rutherford already knew Wildcard by then and got the established superhero to vouch for him?
    That'd be a fun meeting, I think! Unless Scylla threatened or nearly capsized his ship, I imagine he would be overly courteous when they fought, and if she wasn't experienced then he'd likely have helped her a bit with what to watch out for on the seas and where to go for hero training. If Iara was inclined, I imagine he'd definitely help her out, for a time, with smugglers and kidnappers out in the seas before she meets Wildcard or someone else.

    As for the average day, I imagine Blackcoat has to do a lot of paperwork on The Eternal over the various contracts, places, and areas in New Harbour that he helped/helps finance with his wealth during the early mornings and late nights, taking care of his crew on the ship or out in the city as well, and also engaging in hero work that happens throughout the city. He'll often be found pretty much anywhere in the city, equally fighting villains or negotiating with people or his own crew.

    I also... don't quite know what to do for my Proficiencies yet. Given the house rules, may I fill them in later for languages? Like if it becomes relevant (since I figure Blackcoat should know quite a few over his many years)
    Last edited by Starsign; 2021-11-08 at 11:45 AM.

  10. - Top - End - #10
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Quote Originally Posted by Llyarden View Post
    Regarding whether we know each other - I figure Jake will at minimum have vaguely been aware of Cpt Rutherford, maybe Jill (I'm not sure how long she's been in the city) and Scylla, but if my understanding of the timeline is correct, I don't think Jake would know much about Platformer and Pending Objective beyond what just his skills and Well-Informed can give him; Alchemaster's attack and Rach's death would've happened before all that since it was five years before the current IC date. For his part, as Wildcard he's been acting as a minor hero for a couple years now, so it's plausible he's crossed paths with...I guess anyone except Kevin?
    I had actually checked on some timeline stuff with Dodge after my initial sheet post, and ended up moving Kevin's age to 22. The events of the actual St. Ambrose game would have been eight years ago. That said, I don't know that Pending Objective's escapades are particularly well-known outside of Jubilee City; probably the largest-scale thing they did was their contributions to stopping the alien invasion, but while they may have been the ones who beat the big boss, I don't recall that it was like an Independence Day scenario or anything; they were just one part of an overall successful response by Earth's militaries and heroes. (Stopping the Eschaton-possessed cultist was plausibly world-saving in long-term effect, but wouldn't have appeared so to the outside world and I believe was kept largely secret in any case, given Suzie was using downtime actions to research it in Tomorrow City). So I think "not much beyond what skills/Well Informed would give" is probably still an accurate conclusion.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dr.Gunsforhands View Post
    Anyway. This is probably silly, but I can also imagine Kevin rescuing Jill and developing a weird complex about it. He might suspect that he accidentally created her himself, complete with false memories from some fictional video game setting. Anachronistic technology is certainly a common trope of the medium.
    I don't expect he'd believe he had created her or anything - Kevin actually visited both an alternate reality and an alternate timeline in the St. Ambrose game, so he wouldn't have any problem taking her existence at face value. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it a complex, but yeah if he had rescued her in the past it would kinda slot her into his head as like a "quest target NPC", which would influence his interactions with her, especially if he encountered her later as a hero.

    Quote Originally Posted by Starsign View Post
    I also... don't quite know what to do for my Proficiencies yet. Given the house rules, may I fill them in later for languages? Like if it becomes relevant (since I figure Blackcoat should know quite a few over his many years)
    Nautical would probably be the one for general ship-related stuff. And since Vehicles was folded into Expertise in the house rules you'll probably want that (although Nautical might be able to sub as Vehicles for purposes of ships, I'd check with Dodge on that). Criminal would also be a classic choice for a pirate, and Military would probably make some sense as well. Given his investment work and such, you may want to consider Business. Geography is a good one for sailors to have, and given his age History would make a lot of sense considering you know he lived through a lot of it. And whatever others to taste, but those are the ones that jump out at me.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  11. - Top - End - #11
    Ettin in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Quote Originally Posted by Quellian-dyrae View Post
    I had actually checked on some timeline stuff with Dodge after my initial sheet post, and ended up moving Kevin's age to 22. The events of the actual St. Ambrose game would have been eight years ago. That said, I don't know that Pending Objective's escapades are particularly well-known outside of Jubilee City; probably the largest-scale thing they did was their contributions to stopping the alien invasion, but while they may have been the ones who beat the big boss, I don't recall that it was like an Independence Day scenario or anything; they were just one part of an overall successful response by Earth's militaries and heroes. (Stopping the Eschaton-possessed cultist was plausibly world-saving in long-term effect, but wouldn't have appeared so to the outside world and I believe was kept largely secret in any case, given Suzie was using downtime actions to research it in Tomorrow City). So I think "not much beyond what skills/Well Informed would give" is probably still an accurate conclusion.
    Yeah, I was more meaning that Jake's girlfriend went to St Ambrose too, so if that was now eight years ago, it's plausible that she was there at the same time as Kevin, so Jake might have learned a bit from her talking about it.
    Last edited by Llyarden; 2021-10-26 at 03:23 PM.
    "Follow the moonwalking Nosepass!"
    "Can you put the lich in a box?"

  12. - Top - End - #12
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Ahhh right right right. Yeah that makes sense, just eyeballing it if she was around the same age as Jake it seems plausible she'd have been there at the time. Probably a few years ahead of him so between that and, well, Kevin being Kevin they probably wouldn't have known each other personally, but she'd have likely known him by reputation in that case. I imagine Kevin would have had most of the student roster in his Menus somewhere, so he'd probably know of her if she were mentioned, at any rate.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  13. - Top - End - #13
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Is it okay if we do some sheet-fiddling still? I was thinking some about Kevin and came up with some tweaks I wanted to do, as follows (I have the updated sheet written, but not edited into the post):

    -Drop Provocative and Startle. While Kevin did put quite a bit of work into getting his Intimidation skill up to par, he's always been kinda socially inept so really he doesn't need advantages expanding its function. (+2 PP)
    -Remove Takedown 2 as a standalone advantage, but add a Turbo Mode standalone power - Enhanced Advantages (Takedown 2; Limited [Only while benefitting from a Power Up that adds Multiattack or Area to at least one offensive power, or while Invincible]). Back in St. Ambrose Kevin was always pretty mediocre at taking out large groups of Minions unless he had an appropriate Power Up (especially compared to his teammates, who both eventually had Takedown 2). I kinda like that setup. (+1 PP)
    -Remove Fearless. Not sure why it was there in the first place. Kevin's brave but he's not completely immune to fear. (+1 PP)
    -Remove Make It Look Good because see below. (+1 PP)
    -Reduce Evasion to only one rank. Kevin's jumpy enough to have some improved defense against area moves, but he's not really a dedicated speedster or thief-type or anything, so he doesn't really need both ranks. Maybe he'll pick up the second eventually. (+1 PP)
    -Lower base Expertise to 10, but see below; Kevin's more knowledge-monkey than super-skilled in general. (+5 PP)
    -Add +10 Mobility, because that helps with some combat things. Also initiative. (-5 PP)
    -Add five extra proficiencies because he still needs those, though I ended up making everything he has full proficiency and dropping Scholastic (since he's been out of school for longer than I had originally planned and is no longer doing college stuff) and Medicine (because let's be real his best role model there is Doctor Mario and it doesn't work like that). (-1 PP)
    -Add a Limited +5 Expertise and Investigation to his Menus, to buff up his knowledge-monkeying and add more emphasis to Investigation, which I'm coming to realize is going to be a more significant skill for him. Only +5 Expertise because I realized with Eidetic Memory he only needs Expertise 15 rather than 20 to reliably hit 30s for his knowledge stuff. I also added a power for +2 Mobility Limited to Combat Purposes to deal with the fractional PP. (-4 PP)
    -Add Skill Mastery (Expertise) to his Menus, so that he can Routine knowledge-based Expertise stuff for 30 no matter what. Just because I was doing it wrong before does not mean Kevin accepts anything less than 30 on his Expertise checks now, it just means I have to do it right . (-1 PP)

    I also worked out another thing Kevin tends to do with his day, which is put active effort into proactively learning about, tracking down, and apprehending known villains, particularly those who have like outstanding warrants or have otherwise escaped justice. This'll probably be a prime downtime action for him, and I've worked out a new Complication to this effect. (This won't need to cause too terribly much friction between him and Blackcoat; some drama and suspicion no doubt, but I figure Kevin will largely see Blackcoat as a "Magnus" or maybe "Wario" sort, treat him more as a former bad guy or maybe just an anti-hero in general rather than an active villain).
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  14. - Top - End - #14
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    SwashbucklerGuy

    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Quote Originally Posted by Quellian-dyrae View Post
    Nautical would probably be the one for general ship-related stuff. And since Vehicles was folded into Expertise in the house rules you'll probably want that (although Nautical might be able to sub as Vehicles for purposes of ships, I'd check with Dodge on that). Criminal would also be a classic choice for a pirate, and Military would probably make some sense as well. Given his investment work and such, you may want to consider Business. Geography is a good one for sailors to have, and given his age History would make a lot of sense considering you know he lived through a lot of it. And whatever others to taste, but those are the ones that jump out at me.
    Oh these are great suggestions, thanks Though, uh, come to think of it, I don't have a lot of Expertise ranks to fit a lot of these Maybe I should make room for more.

  15. - Top - End - #15
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Dr.Gunsforhands's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2008

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Quote Originally Posted by Starsign View Post
    That'd be a fun meeting, I think! Unless Scylla threatened or nearly capsized his ship, I imagine he would be overly courteous when they fought, and if she wasn't experienced then he'd likely have helped her a bit with what to watch out for on the seas and where to go for hero training. If Iara was inclined, I imagine he'd definitely help her out, for a time, with smugglers and kidnappers out in the seas before she meets Wildcard or someone else.
    Yeah! Now that I look at his complications, I wonder if the mystery cartel that once got Iara have since joined up with Blackbeard's gang to help protect their supply lines, prompting Scylla and Rutherford to work as a team to combat them.

    So, story draft:
    Spoiler: Story draft!
    Show
    - In the course of her early back-and-forth across the Caribbean Sea, purely by chance, Scylla catches The Eternal in the middle of some cargo heist or another. She ruins the whole operation by disabling half of the pirates with spooky mermaid music. Rutherford duels her, wins, and absconds with his crew before the authorities arrive.
    - They have a few more run-ins. It's weird. Scylla can't really fight him unless she catches him red-handed, and he's mostly kind and helpful when she doesn't.
    - Fed up with Rutherford's antics, some Cuban government agency contracts with Lutra, who in turn hunts down Scylla. Lutra helps the young heroine with the arts of telekinesis and being sneaky in exchange for her help bringing down Blackcoat.
    - Together, Scylla and Lutra, 'confiscate,' The Eternal. Lutra doesn't give Scylla time to wonder what will be done with the riches on board, instead directing her to a high-profile trafficking shipment whose capture is extremely time-sensitive for some reason.
    - The cartel ship turns out to be ready for her. They have earmuffs and everything, and Lutra is suddenly no help at all. A certain red-haired woman locks Scylla in a ballast tank.
    - Rutherford, having read Scylla's mind in their earlier fight, figures out Lutra's convoluted scheme. He evades the Cuban authorities, shows up in a stolen speedboat and bails Scylla out.
    - It is revealed that Lutra was using Scylla as a distraction. While she knocked out criminals and washed them ashore, The Majesty's crew could take the stolen loot for themselves. Seeing how much this sucks, Scylla and Blackcoat join forces for real and steal back The Eternal.
    - To show up Lutra further, Blackcoat offers Iara his superior knowledge and resources to help find and defeat smugglers and kidnappers. Recognizing that he's not really a bad person, Iara returns Blackcoat's courtesy and even calls him a friend. To this day, they both try to avoid situations where Scylla might catch Blackcoat red-handed again.

    That's probably at least two years of antics already! Then, finally...

    - Alchemaster happens.
    - Sensing an opportunity, The Cartel quickly establishes itself in the power vacuum of New Harbor's criminal underbelly. A certain red-haired woman, whose name Iara never actually learned during their two trips together, takes up residence there. To combat the known aquatic menaces to their expanding operation, she and her bosses form an alliance with a certain upstart pirate lord, calling himself Blackbeard.
    - Meanwhile, Blackcoat and Scylla each find their way to the rebuilding city for their own reasons...


    Meanwhile! An average day for Iara:
    - Scylla: Rise with the sun, stretch, check the calendar/clock/weather radio dealie on your bedstand, remember whether you had anything going on today
    - Scylla: Go to the bathroom and get dressed. Your body is naturally endowed with a not-insignificant number of 18-inch-long anti-clothing razors, so your costume amounts to a two-piece backless bathing suit. There are some loose shirts and dresses that you can wear over it, but it's impossible for you not to stand out.
    - Scylla: Eat breakfast! Your fridge is filled with a variety of cheap, whole fish, your primary staple since childhood. You can gut and grill these as casually as most people boil ramen or eggs.
    - Iara: Visit Jonah. On Sundays and Thursdays, Iara eschews her Scylla persona to go to church or to board game night, so her dear friend doesn't have to be caught associating with the heroine. Iara doesn't even keep her own clothes in Scylla's apartment, instead maintaining a stash in the guestroom at Fr. Joe's lodgings.
    - Scylla: Work out. Even liquid spirit-persona-things have to exercise regularly to maintain their athletic skills. Scylla can do this in the ocean in relative safety.
    - Iara: Scout the streets and the docks. Iara isn't much of a researcher or investigator, but she is cunning in her own way. A mysterious past, a low profile and a dubious legal status can all be advantages when you want to dig up info on a criminal organization.
    - Scylla: Check gigs. Like it or not, you are a professional vocalist now. You have sung at a number of weddings and there's a cruise line that schedules you some nights during the summer. You even did the voice of the main villain in the Platformer video game.

    Oh! Right! I was going to suggest that - if Platformer has a video game based on him, I thought it would be fun if Scylla did some voice acting for it.
    Last edited by Dr.Gunsforhands; 2021-10-27 at 12:42 PM.
    Avatar by the Ninja Chocobo.

  16. - Top - End - #16
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Quote Originally Posted by Dr.Gunsforhands View Post
    Oh! Right! I was going to suggest that - if Platformer has a video game based on him, I thought it would be fun if Scylla did some voice acting for it.
    Down!
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  17. - Top - End - #17
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2012

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Quote Originally Posted by LoonyLadle View Post
    That depends on whether you want to start us out at the beginning of our career or not. Given the usually glacial pace of PbP I'm inclined to say we ought to skip all the setup; that would allow Jill to already have her "headquarters" (really more of a garage) and her powered suit already built and ready to go.
    That parts already in the bag, I'm only really asking the questions so I know where to put you guys when the game starts.

    Quote Originally Posted by LoonyLadle View Post
    In the evenings she likely goes to a dive bar and gets herself ****faced!
    A woman after my own heart

    Quote Originally Posted by Starsign View Post
    I also... don't quite know what to do for my Proficiencies yet. Given the house rules, may I fill them in later for languages? Like if it becomes relevant (since I figure Blackcoat should know quite a few over his many years)
    You can fill them in as you like between adventures or during if you spend a hero point.

    Quote Originally Posted by Quellian-dyrae View Post
    Is it okay if we do some sheet-fiddling still? I was thinking some about Kevin and came up with some tweaks I wanted to do, as follows (I have the updated sheet written, but not edited into the post):
    Yeah that's fine. If everyone's got there stuff hammered out I'm ready to start when you guys are!

  18. - Top - End - #18
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    That's up on the sheet, and yeah I'm good to go.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  19. - Top - End - #19
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    SwashbucklerGuy

    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Quote Originally Posted by Dr.Gunsforhands View Post
    Yeah! Now that I look at his complications, I wonder if the mystery cartel that once got Iara have since joined up with Blackbeard's gang to help protect their supply lines, prompting Scylla and Rutherford to work as a team to combat them.

    So, story draft:
    Spoiler: Story draft!
    Show
    - In the course of her early back-and-forth across the Caribbean Sea, purely by chance, Scylla catches The Eternal in the middle of some cargo heist or another. She ruins the whole operation by disabling half of the pirates with spooky mermaid music. Rutherford duels her, wins, and absconds with his crew before the authorities arrive.
    - They have a few more run-ins. It's weird. Scylla can't really fight him unless she catches him red-handed, and he's mostly kind and helpful when she doesn't.
    - Fed up with Rutherford's antics, some Cuban government agency contracts with Lutra, who in turn hunts down Scylla. Lutra helps the young heroine with the arts of telekinesis and being sneaky in exchange for her help bringing down Blackcoat.
    - Together, Scylla and Lutra, 'confiscate,' The Eternal. Lutra doesn't give Scylla time to wonder what will be done with the riches on board, instead directing her to a high-profile trafficking shipment whose capture is extremely time-sensitive for some reason.
    - The cartel ship turns out to be ready for her. They have earmuffs and everything, and Lutra is suddenly no help at all. A certain red-haired woman locks Scylla in a ballast tank.
    - Rutherford, having read Scylla's mind in their earlier fight, figures out Lutra's convoluted scheme. He evades the Cuban authorities, shows up in a stolen speedboat and bails Scylla out.
    - It is revealed that Lutra was using Scylla as a distraction. While she knocked out criminals and washed them ashore, The Majesty's crew could take the stolen loot for themselves. Seeing how much this sucks, Scylla and Blackcoat join forces for real and steal back The Eternal.
    - To show up Lutra further, Blackcoat offers Iara his superior knowledge and resources to help find and defeat smugglers and kidnappers. Recognizing that he's not really a bad person, Iara returns Blackcoat's courtesy and even calls him a friend. To this day, they both try to avoid situations where Scylla might catch Blackcoat red-handed again.

    That's probably at least two years of antics already! Then, finally...

    - Alchemaster happens.
    - Sensing an opportunity, The Cartel quickly establishes itself in the power vacuum of New Harbor's criminal underbelly. A certain red-haired woman, whose name Iara never actually learned during their two trips together, takes up residence there. To combat the known aquatic menaces to their expanding operation, she and her bosses form an alliance with a certain upstart pirate lord, calling himself Blackbeard.
    - Meanwhile, Blackcoat and Scylla each find their way to the rebuilding city for their own reasons...
    Ah, I quite like this! Makes a lot of sense to me. And I quite like the idea of Blackcoat being able to determine and disassemble a villain's plans through some careful reading and intuition.

    I've updated Blackcoat's sheet to give him some more Expertise ranks, and add in some of the proficiencies Quellian suggested. I think I should be good now.

  20. - Top - End - #20
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Dr.Gunsforhands's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2008

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Excellent!

    Relevant stuff has been tacked onto the sheet. I dropped Scylla's music history proficiency in favor of a wildcard for now. Iara's glasses were taken away. I've made a few other forgettable edits over time.
    Last edited by Dr.Gunsforhands; 2021-10-27 at 12:37 PM.
    Avatar by the Ninja Chocobo.

  21. - Top - End - #21
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2012

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    And we are live!

    Hope that works for everyone

  22. - Top - End - #22
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    SwashbucklerGuy

    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Hooray! Works pretty well for me I'll try to find time to post today or tomorrow. Got a few things to hand in today.

  23. - Top - End - #23
    Pixie in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2021

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    What the last guy said! So excited to see what kind of antics that my first ever game on this forum can get me into!

  24. - Top - End - #24
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    ...I remembered not to include the z in one out of two rolls. To be fair it was a pretty good roll.

    Perception, for real this time: (1d20+10)[30]. ...Nice to be playing you again, Kev. Well done.
    Last edited by Quellian-dyrae; 2021-10-28 at 05:36 PM.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  25. - Top - End - #25
    Pixie in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2021

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Oh! Someone will have to tell me how to roll dice and stuff on this forum because I do not know!

  26. - Top - End - #26
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    {roll}1d20+10{/roll}, but replacing the {curly brackets} with [square brackets].
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  27. - Top - End - #27
    Pixie in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2021

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Okay! I'll quickly roll a d20 experimentally: I got a (1d20)[9]! Would be nice if I knew the result while I was writing the post so I could flavor my writing appropriately. Should we have a thread specifically for dice?

  28. - Top - End - #28
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2012

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Rolling in the OOC should be fine.

    Also quick heads up gang, I am currently sick as a dog so my post is going to be slightly delayed while I shake whatever this is off.

  29. - Top - End - #29
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    SwashbucklerGuy

    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Quote Originally Posted by Dodgeson View Post
    Rolling in the OOC should be fine.

    Also quick heads up gang, I am currently sick as a dog so my post is going to be slightly delayed while I shake whatever this is off.
    Being sick is never fun. Hope you feel better soon!

  30. - Top - End - #30
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: New Harbour Needs Heroes! (OOC)

    Feel better!
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •