Marvel's Ultimate Universe: Colossus

[Allandrel]

Standard Opening: I’m preparing to run a game set in Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. I’ve been roleplaying for ten years, but I’m new to the Hero System. To help prepare for my game, and more importantly to help learn the ins and outs of the system, I’m statting up the entire Ultimate Universe. What I’m looking for here is feedback and suggestions on how to get the effects I want using the Hero system, rather than precisely replicating the abilities of the characters (though I’d like to do that, too).

(In addition, whenever I lack information about a character’s abilities, I’m going to fall back on the assumption that they’re pretty much the same as their Marvel Universe counterpart.)

Regarding point ranges: I’m building Colossus as a Standard Superheroic character. For my Ultimate Universe, Legendary Primary Characteristics go from 18-25, with 26+ as superhuman.

The following Profile represents Colossus when the X-Men leave on their world tour, prior to their confrontation with Proteus (that is, issue #13).

COLOSSUS (Piotr Nikolavich Rasputin)

STR 25/70 (Roll 14-/23-, Lift 800 kg/400 tons, 5d6 damage/14d6 damage) (15 points)
DEX 14 (Roll 12-, OCV: 5/DCV: 5) (12 points)
CON 20/40 (Roll 13-/17-) (20 points)
BODY 20/32 (Roll 13-/15-) (20 points)
INT 10 (Roll 11-, PER Roll 11-) (0 points)
EGO 18 (Roll 13-, ECV: 6) (16 points)
PRE 18 (Roll 13-, PRE Attack: 4d6) (8 points)
COM 16 (Roll 12-) (3 points)

PD 8/20 (Total: 16/28 PD, 8/28 rPD) (3 points)
ED 8/20 (Total: 16/28 ED, 8/28 rED) (4 points)
SPD 3 (Phases: 4, 8, 12) (6 points)
REC 9/20 (0 points)
END 50/80 (5 points)
STUN 50/89 (7 points)

Total Characteristic Cost: 119

Running: 6”
Leaping: 5”
Swimming: 2”

POWERS

Steel Form: Density Increase (x4 mass: +10 STR, -2 Knockback, +2 PD, +2 ED), Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2), Persistent (+1/4) (17 Active Points); Side Effect: Gains Vulnerability (x2 damage) to Magnetic Effects whenever used (-1/2), Visible (-1/4) (10 points)
Characteristics: +35 STR (35 Active Points); Limited Power: Does not affect Leaping (-1/4), Conditional Power: Does not work when Steel Form is not in use** (-1/4) (23 points)
Characteristics: +20 CON (40 Active Points); Conditional Power: Does not work when Steel Form is not in use (-1/4) (32 points)
Characteristics: +12 BODY (24 Active Points); Conditional Power: Does not work when Steel Form is not in use (-1/4) (19 points)
Characteristics: +3 PD (3 Active Points); Conditional Power: Does not work when Steel Form is not in use (-1/4) (2 points)
Characteristics: +6 ED (6 Active Points); Conditional Power: Does not work when Steel Form is not in use (-1/4) (5 points)
Damage Resistance 40 (20 PD, 20 ED) (20 Active Points); Conditional Power: Does not work when Steel Form is not in use (-1/4) (16 points)
Hardened PD and ED (10 Active Points) Conditional Power: Does not work when Steel Form is not in use (-1/4) (8 points)
Knockback Resistance (-4”) (8 Active Points); Conditional Power: Does not work when Steel Form is not in use (-1/4) (6 points)
Lack of Weakness (-5) for Normal Defenses (5 Active Points); Conditional Power: Does not work when Steel Form is not in use (-1/4) (4 points)
Life Support (Total) (45 Active Points); Conditional Power: Does not work when Steel Form is not in use (-1/4) (36 points)
Mental Defense Training: Mental Defense 10 (6 Active Points) (6 points)
X-Men Uniform: Armor 16 (8 PD, 8 ED) (24 Active Points); Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), OIF (-1/2) (12 points)

* Colossus is supposed to weigh a quarter ton (Imperial) in his steel form, less than the weight this Density Increase gives him. But as we all know, Marvel tons weigh much more than regular tons.

** There are at least half a dozen ways to work out how Colossus’ powers are restricted. Since everything but Density Increase is normally in effect all the time, and DI most clearly represents “turning into steel,” Conditional Power gave me the least headache. Every other variant I’ve seen works out to a -1/4 Limitation anyway, so the game balance effect is the same however you do it.

Total Power Cost: 179

SKILLS
+2 with Hand to Hand Combat (10 points)

Climbing 12- (3 points)
Conversation 13- (3 points)
KS: Mutant Affairs 11- (2 points)
KS: Mutant Powers 11- (2 points)
Language: English (idiomatic, native accent) (Russian is native) (4 points)
Martial Arts: M. Block, M. Grab, M. Strike (11 points)
Paramedics 11- (3 points)
Streetwise 13- (3 points)
Teamwork 12- (3 points)
Trading 13- (3 points)
TF: Small motorized ground vehicles, combat aircraft (1 point)

PERKS

Reputation: Super Hero 11- (+2, known to the general public) (4 points)

Total Skill and Perk Cost: 52
Total Cost: 350

DISADVANTAGES

DNPC: Family 8- (Normal, group of 4 people) (20 points)
Distinctive Feature: Mutant (Concealable, Major Reaction, Detectable Only by Genetic Scan or Test) (5 points)
Enraged: When teammates are KO’d (Common), go 8-, recover 11- (15 points)
Hunted: Russian Mob 11- (More Pow, NCI, Limited to U.S. and Eastern Europe/Russia, Colossus has Public Identity, Watched) (15 points)
Hunted: S.H.I.E.L.D. 11- (More Pow, NCI, Colossus has Public Identity, Watched) (20 points)
Psychological Limitation: Code vs. Killing (Common, Strong) (15 points)
Psychological Limitation: Distrusts Xavier (Common, Moderate) (10 points)
Psychological Limitation: In Love with Wolverine (Common, Strong) (15 points)
Reputation: Former Criminal 8- (5 points)
Social Limitation: Mutant (Frequently, Major) (15 points)
Social Limitation: Public Identity (Frequently, Major) (15 points)

Total Disadvantage Points: 150
Base Points: 200
Total Points: 350

Patrick J McGraw

[levi]

Why buy the Pow Lim Does not work... (-1/4)?

You could have used Linked to DI.

Also how come no KS: Russian Mafia or KS: Arms Dealers?

[Allandrel]

Originally posted by levi Why buy the Pow Lim Does not work... (-1/4)?

You could have used Linked to DI.

I've tried making it Linked. It gave me a headache, and still only worked out to a -1/4 Limitation.


Also how come no KS: Russian Mafia or KS: Arms Dealers? [/B]

Streetwise covers that area pretty well. I suppose he could still take those as complementary skills.

Patrick J McGraw

[Vorsch]

mistake, thought youd given him 14str.

sorry

[Benzini]

As an avid reader of the series, I must point out and remind that THIS Colossus was a member of the Russian Mafia for a while before the Xmen got him out. Some of his skills might represent this

[proditor]

I'm not sure about his armored STR actually. This colossus is very very strong. In addition to manhandling Thor and Iron man in Ultimate War, he did haul that sub out of the ocean and on to dry land. The displacement on that puppy (Oscar II)is 19,400 tons submerged. Now I'm violating rule #1 and throwing Real Life stuff in here, but if you figure even a +10 STR to 80, it just feels a little more "right" I guess, since a heroic push to 90 would have him just about spot on to haul the sub and almost knock Thor into orbit while still holding back Iron-Man. :)

[Allandrel]

Originally posted by Benzini
As an avid reader of the series, I must point out and remind that THIS Colossus was a member of the Russian Mafia for a while before the Xmen got him out. Some of his skills might represent this

Streetwise covers pretty much everything associated with organized crime. I could give him some complementary Knowledge Skills, but not really on the point values I'm working with.

Of course, he can always have "PS: Arms Dealer" as an Everyman skill.

Patrick J McGraw

[Allandrel]

Originally posted by proditor
I'm not sure about his armored STR actually. This colossus is very very strong. In addition to manhandling Thor and Iron man in Ultimate War, he did haul that sub out of the ocean and on to dry land. The displacement on that puppy (Oscar II)is 19,400 tons submerged. Now I'm violating rule #1 and throwing Real Life stuff in here, but if you figure even a +10 STR to 80, it just feels a little more "right" I guess, since a heroic push to 90 would have him just about spot on to haul the sub and almost knock Thor into orbit while still holding back Iron-Man. :)

I used the sub as one of my baselines - that and throwing a Sentinel about 30 feet. I figured both as heroic pushes. I went with a lower STR than you did on the "realistic" assumption that pushing a submarine would take only a fraction of the strength that dead-lifting it would.

As for stopping Iron Man, it isn't so much Iron Man's strength as the momentum of his movement. Tony wasn't diverting power to his thrusters (as he did when he redirected the Citauri ship), so in game terms he was probably just doing a half move. 70 Strength is more than enough to handle that.

Colossus has stopped a five-car train with only a few hundred feet of push-back. That was also clearly a Heroic Push. How that would be resolved is... uncertain. I couldn't find anything in the Champions book section on "Stopping Moving Objects" with pure strength (and Knockback Resistance) rather than using a movement power. Since he's not trying to pick the train up, but rather reduce its movement to zero, it's not going to be quite as huge a task - and looking at the STR chart, 80 (70 with full push) seems quite workable for that as well.

Patrick J McGraw

[Eyendasky80]

Good write-up. Do you consider Colossus killing Proteus an ego roll type situation? I can't recall exactly, but I seem to remember him mentioning he didn't really buy into the, wait now I definately remember. He totally advocated killing Magneto when he found out Xavier had let him live. In fact, he left because he was so disgusted. Pretty sure Colossus doesn't mind killing people who he thinks deserve it. Not a casual killer, but you might want to lay off the code v. killing a little. Maybe bring it down to moderate or drop it entirely.

[Pattern Ghost]

A while back I was making a character with STR tricks who was "more powerful than a speeding locomotive" and the consensus was that a 75 STR would do it, so 70 + a push seems to work. Don't ask me how we arrived at that number, though, b/c I forgot. =)

[Allandrel]

Originally posted by Eyendasky80
Good write-up. Do you consider Colossus killing Proteus an ego roll type situation? I can't recall exactly, but I seem to remember him mentioning he didn't really buy into the, wait now I definately remember. He totally advocated killing Magneto when he found out Xavier had let him live. In fact, he left because he was so disgusted. Pretty sure Colossus doesn't mind killing people who he thinks deserve it. Not a casual killer, but you might want to lay off the code v. killing a little. Maybe bring it down to moderate or drop it entirely.

Colossus also tries to kill the Weapon X agents who'd tortured him and his friends, so I do see you point.

Now what 15-point Disadvantage to replace it with?

Patrick J McGraw

[Eyendasky80]

I forgot that example. Overconfident, he has no problem going toe to toe with Thor and Iron Man. Nonchalant even.

[Allandrel]

Originally posted by Eyendasky80
I forgot that example. Overconfident, he has no problem going toe to toe with Thor and Iron Man. Nonchalant even.

True. And when Weapon X has him stop a train, which could possibly splatter him, he complains about it as if it were some kind of chore rather than imminent death.

Patrick J McGraw

[Eyendasky80]

All those people he killed/ tried to kill really hurt Wolverine. You could possibly keep a reduced code v. killing and up his love for Wolvie. So strong he'd kill anyone who hurt Logan.

[Allandrel]

Originally posted by Eyendasky80
All those people he killed/ tried to kill really hurt Wolverine. You could possibly keep a reduced code v. killing and up his love for Wolvie. So strong he'd kill anyone who hurt Logan.

There's that, too. It seems like "Colossus will kill them if they try anything" would be the running gag of a Very Secret Diaries of the X-Men.

Patrick J McGraw

[Eyendasky80]

On the over confident front, I liked his line when he went after that sub, "If Colussus cannot do it, then who will?" Not exactly a self-doubter.

[proditor]

Originally posted by Allandrel
I used the sub as one of my baselines - that and throwing a Sentinel about 30 feet. I figured both as heroic pushes. I went with a lower STR than you did on the "realistic" assumption that pushing a submarine would take only a fraction of the strength that dead-lifting it would.
<Snip>Patrick J McGraw Well, yes and no. The weight of 19,400 tons is how much water the sub actually displaces when submerged. I'm just not sure if a heroic push to 80 would cover it, but than again I've forgotten pretty much everything I ever knew about displacement vs. "actual" weight.

[Enforcer84]

Wow. The Ultimate Colossus seems much more potent than the original.

He was my fave X-Man and All I ever saw from him was the Warf Syndrome; got his ass kicked to show the reader how tough the bad guy was.

Punched Thor into Orbit?
Would have liked to have seen that.

[Eyendasky80]

Thanks to the magic of trade paperbacks, you can. Ultimate X-Men Volume 5: Ultimate War. It's my personal favorite.

[Allandrel]

Well... "punched Thor into orbit" is hyperbole. We only see them fighting briefly, and Hawkeye notes that Colossus has been "kicking the crap out of Thor for about ten minutes."

Then Hawkeye hits Colossus with a small-scale tactial nuke.

Which stuns him.

So, Ultimate Colossus is a LOT more powerful than Marvel Universe Colossus.

Patrick J McGraw