Random Hero

[Asperion]

Here is a good concept that I have been wondering how to pull it off. The concept is that the hero has several powers that he can use only he has no control over what power will go off whenever he uses the power. There is nothing that connects the powers. The person is a chaos mathmatician that had an accident and the rest of the usual comic story. However the control mechinism went haywire.

What I am wondering about is how to determine what power is activited when he uses the powers and any ideas for the stated powers. Any ideas and suggestions would be highly welcome.

Thanks in advance for all the great ideas and suggestions that everyone will come up with.

[keithcurtis]

We ran a very similar character. She had a large VPP with No Conscious Control on the control cost. Then we had a large list of pre-gen powers and SFX she could use. When she wanted to activate the power, I would have her randomly roll the power that got activated. I'll see if I can dig it up.

Urgh. I just tried and the format is so old and the compression might have been corrupted. (We only had a couple of megabytes on our hard drives back then, and we <I>Liked</i> it!)
Sorry, but the list is unpostable...



Keith "Mr. Not-so-Helpy-Guy" Curtis

[Killer Shrike]

Ive had PCs with similar abilities in the past, like the Random Multiformer (Legion), and Wild Mages, etc.

I used a -1 version of No Conscious Control called Random, and made a list of abilties/forms that was rolled against with each use.

To be TRULY random, you could alternately make a branching tree of Random powers, advantages and limitations, but that would be a lot of work....

[Derek Hiemforth]

The UNTIL Superpowers Database would make running such a character much easier. Just define a VPP of a certain number of points, apply an appropriate Limitation to it reflecting the lack of control, and randomly grab powers from the USPD when needed. :)

[Agent X]

Superskrull, one of my fellow gamers, played a character with just such a power concept. We cheated and used the Universal Powers Handbook from Marvel. It has a wonderfully large table. He would roll and I would just make it up on the spot. It wasn't too hard to do. He would have the powers reset whenever he went unconscious.

[Kaeto]

I'm trying to create the old "Dial H for hero" type effect.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Kaeto
I'm trying to create the old "Dial H for hero" type effect. Then I think the USPD is probably the way to go. Either that or use the Champions Genre Book to Design Quick Heroes.

[Asperion]

Thanks for all the replys everyone. The suggestion of using the Ultimate Powers Book from Marvel sounds like it would be the best one for me (since I do not have the USPD). Although I would like to have a bunch of powers at quick and ready reference. He uses the power mostly as a form of comic relief, so the crazier the power the better. His overall power level is basically the same as for the PCs so the power itself cannot be overly powerful. Lets hear all those crazy suggestions that everyone possesses out there.