Ultra-Boy thoughts

[Madstone]

I'm revamping a character based on the Ultra-Boy idea of one power at a time. (Funny, I always thought that this idea was so ridiculous that I became obsessed by it, and now my main character is based on it. Hmm. That kind of thing happens a lot in my life it seems. Don't even get me started on clowns...)

So anyway, I originally used a multipower for him. I got into a big 'discussion' with a gm trying to explain the sfx on this. That was a headache.

I got to thinking recently about doing my character as a Multiform. A lot more character sheets, but more accuracy, I think. I just wanted to see what ideas or thoughts the assemblage could provide.

[JeffreyWKramer]

Ultra Boy is really what a Multipower is all about. Heck, the "u" or "ultra" slot for a MP is *named* for him, as he is the archetype of the character who can do a lot of different things, but only one at a time.

Why did the GM discussion turn into a headache? How hard can it be to understand "This guy can either be real, real strong, or invulnerable, or fly really fast, or shoot these beams outta his eyes, but he can only do one of them at a time"????

[Pattern Ghost]

Just tell the GM, "He's like Ultra Boy." Mebbe lend him a comic. Ultra Boy. Ultra Slot. Ultra Boy. Ultra Slot. Hmm. Not too tough.

[JmOz]

I have to agree, this is not the hardest concept. If nothing else tell him that the character has a finite amount of energy that he can only channel into one power at a time

[Madstone]

His argument was that a multipower needs a tight theme, like an EC, and he just couldn't accept the theme. I finally got him to accept by pointing out the absurdity of buying all of the powers with the limitation "not when other powers are in use." That is a multipower, is it not? He finally acquiesced, but i still had to change some of the powers to make it acceptable.

Basically, I'm no longer playing with that gm (nothing harsh, just scheduling conflicts), and I want to rewrite the character as I originally intended.

[JmOz]

Sounds like he has not read the MP Rules (last time I checked they did not require it)

[JeffreyWKramer]

Originally posted by Crisis
His argument was that a multipower needs a tight theme, like an EC, and he just couldn't accept the theme.

The GM was a dork. The theme in Ultra Boy's case *is* one big superpower at a time. <rolls eyes>

[Lightray]

Ultra Boy did have a "tight" special effects concept -- he had been infused with "ultra energy".

Which he picked up after being swallowed by an Ultra-Energy Beast, of course (also called a Star Dragon). Hence why his name is Jo Nah (Jonah and the whale, get it?).

You seem to have run into someone who's too influenced by the mutant-type powers, where they try to use pseudo-science to justify everything. Magnetism, for example; the goofy effects Magneto uses are far beyond rubber science for magnetism (knock people out by affecting the iron in their hemogoblin? puh-leeze).

Ultra Boy and a lot of other classic comic book characters have much less rigorous pseudo-science. Superman's Kryptonian powers, for example, are a mish-mash really.

So what you need to do is make up your own special effect like ultra-energy, which is defined by what powers you have rather than which defines which powers you can have. If you understand what I mean.

Really, I've always found it much more fun when a player tells me "My character can do all these different things. I don't know how or why." That way I get to work in the discovery or it can naturally evolve out of the campaign. Much more satisfying, IMO.