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Hijack - A work in progress


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Characteristics - Hijack (not the original) - aka Dr. Jacob Reiger - aka Major Jace Reacher

 

VAL CHA  CP Base Price END Roll Notes

 20 STR  10  10   1  [4] 13- 4d6 HTH

 20 DEX  20  10   2      13- 16- w/Double Jointed; Initiative 24 w/Lightning Reflexes

 20 CON  10  10   1      13-

 38 INT  28  10   1      17- PER Roll 17-

 20 EGO  10  10   1      13-  

 20 PRE  10  10   1      13- PRE Attack: 4d6; 17- 8d6 w/Striking Appearance

  7 OCV  20   3   5      

  7 DCV  20   3   5      

 11 OMCV 24   3   3      

 11 DMCV 24   3   3      

  5 SPD  30   2  10          Phases: 12, 3, 5, 8, 10

 10 PD    8   2   1          27(17r) PD

  7 ED    5   2   1          24(17r) ED

 10 REC   6   4   1      

 35 END   3  20  1/5      

 19 BODY  9  10   1      

 38 STUN  9  20  1/2      

Meters Move            

  8 LEAP  2   4  1/2 [1]    up to half upward; 64m w/G.R.I.T.

 18 RUN   6  12   1  [2]    X2 Noncombat

  8 SWIM  2   4  1/2 [1]    X2 Noncombat

256 Characteristics & Movement Total

 

CP  Powers  Notes  [END]    

 

Powers    Graphene Reinforced Interpolated Tissue (G.R.I.T.)    

 18 High Range Radio Hearing G.R.I.T. 12 AP Imperceivable To Radio Senses (+1/2) 18 AP [-]    

 28 Leaping +56m G.R.I.T. (Total 64m) 28 AP 1/2 END (+1/4) 35 AP Unified Power (-1/4) [1]    

 19 Life Support G.R.I.T. Immune Aging, All Terrestrial Poisons, Pressure, Radiation, Temperature 19 AP [-]    

 20 Mental Damage Reduction 50% Split Personality 20 AP [-]    

  9 Mental Defense Resistant 6 AP Impenetrable (+1/4) (+1/4) Master Hypnotist 9 AP [-]    

 51 Resistant Protection 17 rPD/rED G.R.I.T. 51 AP [-]    

 28 Stretching 3m G.R.I.T. 3 AP 5x Malleable (+25 AP) 97m Reach 160m Height x2 Ncbt 28 AP 1/2 END (+1/4) 35 AP Unified Power (-1/4) [1]            

 

 10 Multipower Reserve Hypnosis 60 AP Hypnosis Only (cannot achieve full range of effects; -½), No Range (-½), Extra Time (1 minute; -1½), Concentration (0 DCV; -½), Eye Contact (-½), Requires A PS: Hypnotist Roll (-¼)    

  1 f Mental Illusion 6d6 Cumulative (+1/2) Increased Cumulative Points ( 144 AP; +1/2) 60 AP [6]    

  1 f Mind Control 6d6 Cumulative (+1/2) Increased Cumulative Points ( 144 AP; +1/2) 60 AP [6]      

     

 40 VPP Pool STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) 40 AP    

 13 VPP Control Cost STEM 40 AP Only Technology-based Powers (-1/4) Requires Relevant Skill Roll to Change (-1/4)        

     

Perks    

  3 Anonymity: Dr. Jacob Reiger, reclusive former child prodigy    

 10 Computer Link: Orbital Tempest Web  

    3 Contact: Floating (GM's discretion)    

  2 Deep Cover: Major Jacen 'Jace' Reacher    

  1 License: Academic credentials: PhD    

  2 License: Military Rank (detached): Major     

  0 Positive Reputation: former child prodigy (world of academia) 8-    

  1 Positive Reputation: A soldier's soldier 11-              

 

Talents    

 17 Combat Sense 17-    

  4 Double Jointed    

  5 Eidetic Memory    

  3 Lightsleep    

  3 Lightning Calculator    

  2 Lightning Reflexes +4 Dex All HTH Attacks    

  3 Perfect Pitch    

  6 Speed Reader 100x    

 12 Striking Appearance +4: Still Waters Reach Deep              

 

Enhancers    

  3 Jack of All Trades    

  3 Linguist  

    3 Scholar    

  3 Scientist              

 

Skills    

  8 Martial Arts Aikido & Wu Shu, Usable Empty-Handed, with Knife, Hook Sword, Sword, Club, Staff, Spear, Polearm, Chain & Rope    

  4 Martial Block +2 +2 Block, Abort    

  5 Disarming Throw +0 +0 Grab Weapon, +5 STR to take weapon away; Target Falls    

  4 Martial Dodge - +5 Abort    

  4 Martial Escape +0 +0 +15 Str vs Grab    

  3 Martial Grab -1 -1 +10 Str to Hold    

  4 Martial Strike +0 +2 Strike, 6d6    

  3 Martial Throw +0 +1 STR +v/5; Target Falls    

  4 Nerve Strike -1 +1 2d6 NND    

 34 Martial Damage Classes: 2; +8 Damage Classes Unified Power (-1/4)    

 18 Combat Skill Levels Martial Arts Training: 6 levels  

  10 Defense Maneuver, Full  

    6 Fast Draw Martial Weapons & Small Arms    

  5 Rapid Attack HTH Multiple Attacks Only (-1)          

 

    3 Acrobatics 13-  

  3 Acting 13- 17- w/Striking Appearance

     AK: Virginia 8-  

 24 Analyze Martial Style, Combat Technique, Intellect Skills, Interaction Skills, Agility Skills, Knowledge Skills, Science Skills, Language Skills 17-

    3 Breakfall 13- Up to 16- w/Double Jointed

  3 Bugging 17-  

  3 Bureaucratics 13- 17- w/Striking Appearance

  3 Charm 13- 17- w/Striking Appearance

  3 Climbing 13-

  3 Computer Programming 17-

  3 Concealment 17-  

  3 Contortionist 13- Up to 16- w/Double Jointed

  3 Conversation 13- 17- w/Striking Appearance

  5 Cramming    

  3 Criminology 17-

    3 Cryptography 17-  

  3 Deduction 17-

  3 Demolitions 17-  

  3 Disguise 17-  

  3 Electronics 17-

    3 Forensic Medicine 17-

    3 Forgery 17-

    3 Gambling 17-

    3 Inventor 17-  

 12 KS Country & Western Music, Aikido, Wu Shu, Military History, Anthropology, Games 17-  

  3 Lipreading 17-

    3 Lockpicking 17-  

 43 LS Spanish, French, German, Italian, Latin, Cantonese, Russian, Hindi, Yiddish, Sardinian, Japanese, Aramaic, Cree, Hebrew, Greek, Persian, Pashtun (all Fluent due Language Family)

        LS English Native – Literate, Dialects    

  3 Mechanics 17-  

  3 Mimicry 17-  

  3 Oratory 13- 17- w/Striking Appearance

  3 Paramedics 17-  

  3 Persuasion 13- 17- w/Striking Appearance

  3 Power, Stretching (Int-based) 17-

  12 PS Hypnotist, Soldier, Researcher, Medical Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer 17-  

  - PS Everyman Busker: Stage Magician 12-

  3 Security Systems 17- 

    3 Shadowing 17-  

  3 Sleight of Hand 13-  

 10 SS Anthropology, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Microbiology, Nanotechnology, Operations Research, Psychology 17-  

  3 Stealth 13- 

    2 Survival 17-  

  3 Systems Operations 17-  

  3 Tactics 17-  

  3 Teamwork 13-  

  -  TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles    

  3 Tracking 17-  

    3 Ventriloquism 17-  

    5 WF: Small Arms          

 

 10 Combat Skill 2 levels HTH      

 24 Overall Skill 2 levels    

664 Total Powers, Perks & Skills    

920 Total CP              

 

Complications    

 

 15 Hunted: US Military (More Powerful, NCI, PC Easy to Find, Watching Only, Infrequently)    

 10 Psych Lim: A Magician Never Reveals (Uncommon, Moderate)    

 10 Psych Lim: Jace's Code of Military Honor (Uncommon, Moderate)    

 10 Psych Lim: Jacob's Pacifist Code vs Killing (Uncommon, Moderate)    

  5 Psych Lim: Split Personality Pacifist Geek/Soldier's Soldier (Uncommon, Moderate)    

 15 Social: Secret Identity, Major (detached) Jace Reacher    

  0 Social: Harmful Secret (Infrequent, Minor, Not Limiting) Dual Identity    

 10 Social: Jace's Military Obligation (Infrequent, Major)    

 75 Total Complications    

445 Total Bonus Experience    

 

Background
 
Jacob Reiger was a child prodigy. As a Beaver Cub, he'd earned every merit badge and precociously taught himself the entire high school curriculum, including fluency in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Latin and Cantonese. As a Cub Scout, Jake earned all those merit badges and a university degree in Anthropology, came first in his age group for Mathematics and Physics contests at the national level, learned Russian, Hindi, Yiddish, Sardinian, Japanese, Aramaic, Cree and Persian while developing a fascination for stage magic and becoming one of the Magic Guild's youngest autodydacts, with specialty in prop magic and escapology and a fascination for mentalism. As a Boy Scout, Jacob earned yet more merit badges and was for three years running the national champion non-contact martial artist in the under 18 category.
 
By the age of seventeen, Jacob Reiger defended and published three simultaneous PhD theses involving his project to launch a satellite network by feeding spiders an exotic diet of metals to induce refractive webcasting, and then pulsing a microwave emitter to loft millions of young hatchlings through the stratosphere, converting their webs into a massive sparse matrix dish reflector aimed Earthwards, he called 'Project Ladder'. The 'satellites' were virtually invisible, an array of microscopically thin strands spread out around the planet, detectable only by polarizing interferometry, a technique Jacob invented himself.
 
He'd already moved onto radical photolithography on graphite with surprising results by the time his degrees were granted. Jacob combined the 'Graphite Lithographic Interpolated Circuit' technology to use the network of orbiting spider web reflectors to receive and decode signals from almost every electronic device on the planet. Reading what he found, Reiger had a small nervous breakdown. Jacob bought a large acreage of undeveloped land in backwoods Virginia -- the only state it was legal for a minor to make such a purchase -- using money from a scholarship award and announced he was going there to study species indigenous to the heartland. Instead, adopting the identity of Jacen Reacher, forging papers for the new personna, the young man enlisted as a private his drill sargeant called, "the most natural soldier you ever saw." But first, he infused himself with a new technology, 'Graphite Reinforced Interpolated Tissue', to give himself the power to reach the Ladder at will, invisibly, always.
 
After four tours as a demolitions expert, promoted through the ranks to Captain, Jace Reacher was attached to a military intelligence unit for a brief time. Once its mission was dissolved, Major Reacher became a special investigator attached to JAG. His assignments lead to a lot of travel, which he has considerable personal discretion over.
 
Powers
 
Brilliant teen scientist Jacob Reiger secretly made himself a cyborg, integrating every fiber throughout his being with atom-thin armored circuitry giving his body protection and malleability while linking him invisibly through radio to his planet-spanning satellite observatory, and access to the varied powers of the world of science, technology, engineering and mathematics before becoming a recluse. A skilled amateur stage magician and mentalist as a child, Reiger ("Reigan The Refulgent") can still hypnotise even the most resistant mind, disguise himself as the almost perfect infiltrator, and make the impossible appear to happen through sleight of hand. Reiger prefers for his tricks to remain mysterious. A practiced combatant, decorated Major Jace Reacher is known to be a soldier's soldier with a conscience, who advanced through the ranks by toughness and tactics to become a JAG special investigator.
 
Appearance
 
Hijack is a featureless, elongated humanoid undulating in a disturbing way, shimmerless shadows of shifting coloration migrating over his surface to those few who have seen him. His voice is eerie, disturbed and distressing to those few who have heard it. His movements are like a dance of impossibility and precision spanning an incredible reach. His mind, to those with mental perceptions, is as elusive as sifted sand, as sharply cutting as a sandblast, an unreachable tower of intellect.
 
Jacob Reigen is what you'd expect of a former child prodigy nerd scientist. Heterochromic, he has one green and one hazel eye (the right). Barely 5'9", slouching, pasty and flabby, Dr. Reigen wears thick dollar-store glasses under a thatch of blonde hair he might have cut himself.. but that brain, it shines through in sesquipedalian flashes of scientific insight.
 
Major Jace Reacher is every inch a soldier, in uniform or out. Bald-shaved head, tan that never wears out, blue-eyed, a near perfect symmetry to his face except a tiny, dashing scar below his left eye, mirrored glasses and tall, at a muscular 6'7" and 220 pounds, you just know Jace would lope like a natural athlete except for the military precision of every move he makes. Still waters reach deep, and the calm surface of this officer is impenetrable.
 
Sample Interaction
 
The tall figure crouched for a moment, running his fingers over the dirt, then standing. "Remember man, you are dust and unto dust you will return," he intoned. "You can tell a lot from traces. Number. Weight. Direction. Speed.. More." 
 
The tracker casually sifted some of the dust in his hands. "Even a single grain of grit can change the course of all human endeavor. An oyster will turn mere grit into a pearl. A pearl will fascinate you. You can lose yourself in its depths."
 
The exchange was slow, the hulking monster persuaded by the elusive Hijack's stillness to himself be still. How much time passed, the berserker could not guess. But the man talking was reaching past the monster, down into his core.
 
“I know who you are, Doctor. I know the madder you get, the stronger you get. But your intellect isn't in control of your radiant power. It's all fight or flight instinct and emotion. Me, the madder I get, the more tactical I get.” Hijack let drop little runnels of sand through his fingers, blowing the cloud slightly toward the green goliath.
 
“You have a bad dog, Doc. It needs training. You've been at war with your body forever, and it's learned to fight your intelligence and dread your best intentions. I know you're a smart man, but your strength comes from your cells, and they are dumb as rocks.
 
He brushes the dust from his hands. "I've just told them they need to evolve to an atmosphere of almost pure sand. In a few seconds, your lungs will explode in a horrible mass of spines. It will hurt and cripple you, but you'll live, and they'll fade away in time. I'm also teaching your eyes they need to shut down, because the stimulus of the flashing light they're experiencing below your conscious threshold hurts your chances to survive. I'm doing the same thing with subharmonics to your hearing. We'll talk when the effects wea...”
 
“As I said. I know you're a smart man, but you're not always in charge of your body. I'm helping you. Teaching your body it needs its consciousness, and its conscience. Teaching your body that its number one survival response is not to tick me off. Because that was the tactics I use on someone I like, when I'm calm and happy. Just let it sink in with your body that I get much worse when I'm unhappy, and stupidity makes me unhappy. Your cells wouldn't like it if they made me unhappy.
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Hijack is the superheroic expression of the subconscious mind of a troubled genius. Reclusive Dr. Jacob Reiger experimented with a lot of fantastic technologies while still a teenager -- some of these on himself. One of them led to Reiger discovering very unwanted knowledge buried in computers he accessed out of pure youthful curiousity. The burden of that knowledge drove Jacob to change the course of his whole life.

 

Jace Reacher emerged from Reiger's mental breakdown, first. A soldier's soldier, Major Reacher led a simple life of bomb disposal and following orders, not having to face the terrors that led Reiger to regard the whole world as a bomb that needed disarming. Lately, Reacher's duty led him to have to face the same knowledge as broke Jacob. Reacher's made of sterner stuff, and hasn't fled into a corner of his own.. well, actually Reiger's, mind. Hijack, however, has leaked out, and begun haunting the world of the Player Characters.

 

Hijack -- not the original (if you've called yourself 'Hijack', you can't complain when your name is itself hijacked) -- is not a generally playable character although his defenses and attacks are generally within reasonable campaign limits; he's too good at too many things to be very interesting in most campaigns. His psychology prevents him from showing off, so despite his abilities he will not use them to loom over players. His ability to analyze what others are best at, and his honorable approach and desire to remain anonymous keeps him from treading on the toes of the players.

 

Sometimes a helper, as a contact Major Reacher feeds the information he wants heroes to have to them, and sometimes suppresses or removes information about the heroes from becoming known. His personal mission is to disarm the dangerously explosive globe's worst threats, while balancing the dangers against each other. Sometimes as a rival or villain, Hijack is the sort who could drop a trail of breadcrumbs that could lead the heroes to the foe Reiger wants foiled.

 

Characters might seek out Dr. Jacob Reiger as a scientific consultant on some odd technical question, due to his positive reputation among academics. They might call on -- or be called on by -- Major Jace Reacher due involvement in military investigation or for consulting on bomb disposal or the like. Hijack's mysterious appearance might suggest an extradimensional or magical being, though that is far from the truth.. it's not as if Hijack's exactly a friend of the truth out there.

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Hijack's Campaign Setting

 

Jace grimaced internally, half listening to the interminable briefing while blue eyes betrayed the barest flicker of scanning the internal news feed behind his everpresent mirrored sunglasses. His fingers automatically flipped a page on the document on the table in front of him, feigning attention for the presenter's benefit as the blah-blah-blah continued. Reacher hid a scowl. If you're going to give a presentation, at least don't read it word for word from the notes, he thought, suppressing the lip curl that would betray disdain, with an even smile that made Mona Lisa look clownish.

 
The Major's thoughts lingered briefly on the rival headlines that caught his attention, "Busking Juggler Busts Jersey Bank Job," and "Kabuki Stilt Reagan Foils Armed Gang". With a sentimental hint of regret, Jacob filed the mental note that Kabuki Stilt Reagan was a burned identity now. KSR's flamboyant pompadore had been one of Reiger's personal favorite acts, with him since he was a child and actually needed stilts. No room for nostalgia. Sorry, KSR. You gave your life in a good cause: five mercenaries on the way to very long prison sentences, hostages who would certainly have been killed and dumped instead rescued, and funding denied to the empty coffers of a criminal cell, starting the dominoes on the fall of a kingpin half a world away.
 
"So we see from the chart on page nineteen.. uh.. cross reference with Appendix Q, tables nine and, uhm, er.. twelve.. that the obvious conclusion is that the threat formerly known as VIPER is clear-clearly disb-disbanded, and uh, defunct, replaced by a fra-fractured, uh, group of elderly fringe fanatics losing to a younger wave of even more extreme terrorists with an array of conflicting agendas, or it resources picked over by other subversive organizations or gone solo. Uh.. and. And in conclusion, VIPER will co-continue to be used by some as a front or to puff up their petty goals, but a new nomenclature for classifying supposed VIPER encounters will, uh, improve the accuracy of, uh.." the presenter droned on, and Jace noted the slackening of jaws around the table: Benson from policy was almost asleep, two guys from legal were unconsciously moving their thumbs, missing their smartphones, like crack addicts itching for a fix. 
 
The mole, she was hiding a sneer of derision with practiced guile. She was good; a deep agent, hardly betrayed even by microexpressions, the mole had been on Reacher's radar for three weeks now. She was the 'New' VIPER the meeting was about. In the new classification, she'd be a 'V-193-R'.. Reiger noted the coincidence with leetspeak; Reacher so did not care about coincidence or defunct hacker culture.
 
Closing the folder in front of him to draw attention, Jace began sending out signals, baiting the hook and dropping the line, waiting to see if she'd strike at the lure. He gave off the vibe of knowing more about the response plans than the  juniour analyst up at the front of the room. The jut of his chin made him out to be vulnerable to flattery, a vain repressed drinker with a weakness for damsels in distress. The way he moved his left hand shouted 'cheater', and the flash of smirk suggested 'bad boy'. Internally, Jacob counted off the flags of Reacher's success, noting smugly that one of the lawyers was responding too. If Jace could smack himself in the back of the head, he would have. Reacher already had 'tall', 'lean', 'emotionally remote', and 'dim' appearance factors going for him; of course he'd get a few false strikes now and again.
 
It took another three days of charm and acting dumb to set the hook on the V-193-R. Reacher managed to feed a dozen false facts with the infiltrator, and Jacob was very satisfied as he tracked their progress through The Ladder. Six suspected targets confirmed, three new ones identified, two gone quiet as expected, thanks to Kabuki Stilt Reagan's sacrifice. The mole had played the damsel-in-distress card, 'my career is going nowhere' variant. Jace countered with Peter-Principle-and-Doesn't-Know-It narcissism. He even tossed in a needless-bar-fight in front of her to show how broken he was. His seductress would have to repair the drunken brawling Major before she could exploit him, he'd persuaded her with his pretty-boy incompetence ploy.
 
Reiger traced the V-193-R's web of compromised targets as she pulled out all the stops to help Major Reacher's troubled career, filing these infrastructure security holes for future reference. Now, it was Hijack's turn.
 
The V-193-G recruiter had been panning for special talents fruitlessly in Baltimore when a series of the kind of robberies that don't get reported to the police came to his attention. The victims were all heavily-connected drug pushers and smugglers; low-level but not the kind of target a bright person takes on. They were brutally beaten, with needless violence and a clear turf claiming message. This new talent was trying to eke out a niche in the trade, financed by his rivals and boosting a terrifying local reputation. It was Hijack, the ghostly figure of shadow and pain, they whispered. Please don't let him near them again, they pleaded. A recruiter's jackpot.
 
In next to no time, V-193-G had a healthy commission, and Hijack infiltrated the V-193 fold, its latest V-193-S superthug.
 
Squeezing the infiltrator, the superthug, and the data for all they were worth, from The Ladder Reiger watched the V-193 cell tear itself apart, and collapse under the weight of its own internal conflicts, jealousies and complications played against each other. Jace almost regretted when V-193-R was liquidated by V-19 management. She had helped his career, after all. He went through the motions of dimwitted secret lover looking for V-193-R after her disappearance, but true to type dropped the search with a shrug and a new girl. If he could smack himself on the back of the head, Jacob would have.
 
Three more subcells, and V-19 would be open to takedown. He'd need at least three teams for the next phase, plus something very special for V-19 invoking rival organizations. V-19 is a collection of some very tough customers, all of them more dangerous than Reiger in some way. Taking V-19 would put V-1 in reach. It would be worth the risk.
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A different take -- and name -- on the same character, perhaps earlier in his career, when he's essentially a nanite-clad martial artist.

 

More precise allocation of points and complications, moving some powers into a beefed up VPP to capture the fluidity of the power set I was after, dropping the fixed defenses and adding a hefty resurrection-regeneration better frame the original concept.

 

Somewhere between a cut-rate nanite Dr. Manhattan and boy-scoutish Nite Owl, or Ozymandias without the acid trip in powers, this young phenom with his newly developed super powers might even be somewhat playable if a GM accepts the whopping 320 pt overage in points, as he's been balanced for lower CV and reasonable damage limits.

 

While I like exploring the Major Jace Reacher cover identity, it added significant bloat to an already overloaded Dougie Howser-meets David Copperfield meets Andre Reim skill set and did nothing to better define the character for play. 

 

The new name is meant to reflect the nebulous and disturbing appearance a stage magician can create with unlimited control over nanites, and in no small measure some of Jake Reiger's intellectual mannerisms as well as a secret tribute to the FISS Julie from PS238.

 

The hypnotism-as-skill multipower pool has been shifted to a jointly-linked Unified Power, so Mind Control can be established under a Persuasion roll after a carefully crafted Mental Illusion is woven with Conversation. This seems to better reflect stage mentalism tropes, to me.

 

Have a look, let me know if the build reflects the backstory; comments are welcome.

 

Thanks

 

Characteristics - Tenebro - aka Dr. Jacob Reiger

 

VAL CHA  CP Base Price END Roll Notes

 25 STR  13  10    1   [1]  14- Lift 800 kg; 5d6 HTH - 10 STR Unified Power (-¼) G.R.I.T. Boost

 23 DEX  24  10    2        14- 5 DEX Unified Power (-¼) G.R.I.T. Guidance Algorithm

 19 CON   8  10    1        13- 5 CON Unified Power (-¼) G.R.I.T. Boost

 38 INT  25  10    1        17- PER Roll 17-; 15 INT Unified Power (-¼) G.R.I.T. Boost

 23 EGO  13  10    1        14- 

 25 PRE  13  10    1        14- PRE Attack: 5d6; 10 PRE Unified Power (-¼) Hypnotism-as-Skill

  8 OCV  22   3    5            3 OCV Unified Power (-¼) G.R.I.T. Targeting Algorithm

  8 DCV  22   3    5            3 DCV Unified Power (-¼) G.R.I.T. Guidance Algorithm

  8 OMCV 15   3    3      

  8 DMCV 15   3    3      

  6 SPD  36   2   10            Phases: 12, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10; 2 SPD Unified Power (-¼) G.R.I.T. Boost

  7 PD    5   2    1            12(5r) PD

  5 ED    3   2    1            10(5r) ED

 12 REC   7   4    1            6 REC Unified Power (-¼) G.R.I.T. Boost

 25 END   1  20   1/5      

 11 BODY  1  10    1      

 22 STUN  1  20    ½      

Meters Movement            

  4 LEAP  0   4    ½   [1]      up to half upward

 12 RUN   0  12    1   [1]      X2 Noncombat

  4 SWIM  0   4    ½   [1]      X2 Noncombat

 

224 Characteristics & Movement Total

 

CP  Powers  Notes  [END]    

 

Powers    Graphene Reinforced Interpolated Tissue (G.R.I.T.)

  5 Bare Advantage G.R.I.T. Efficiency ½ END 25 STR (+¼) 6 AP Unified Power (-¼) [1]

 25 Life Support G.R.I.T. Shielded Cells Self-contained Breathing, Diminished Eating 1/week, Diminished Sleep 8 hrs/week; Immune Aging, All Terrestrial Poisons, Pressure/Vacuum, Radiation, Temperature 31 AP Unified Power (-¼) [-]    

  8 Mental Damage Reduction 25% Mind-G.R.I.T. Integration 10 AP Unified Power (-¼) [-]

 

  5 Mental Defense 5 AP Hypnotist 5 AP [-] 

  5 Mental Illusion 3d6  Hypnotism-as-Skill 15 AP Increased Cumulative Points ( 72 AP; +1) ½ END (+¼) 31 AP Concentration (0 DCV; -½) Extra Time (1 turn; -1¼) Eye Contact (-½) Hypnosis Only (cannot achieve full range of Mental Illusion effects; -½) Linked to Mental Illusion (greater power linked to lesser power, must use lesser power at full value -¾) No Range (-½) Reduced Penetration (-¼) Requires Conversation Roll (-½) Unified Power (-¼) [1]    

  4 Mind Control 2d6  Hypnotism-as-Skill 10 AP Increased Cumulative Points ( 48 AP; +1) 0 END (+½) 25 AP Concentration (0 DCV; -½) Extra Time (1 turn; -1¼) Eye Contact (-½) Hypnosis Only (cannot achieve full range of Mind Control effects; -½) Linked to Mental Illusion (lesser power linked to greater power, must use greater power at full value -¾) No Range (-½) Reduced Penetration (-¼) Requires Persuasion Roll (-½) Unified Power (-¼) [0]

 

 28 Regeneration G.R.I.T. Stimulation 1 BODY/20 Minutes 10 AP Can Heal Limbs (+5 AP) Resurrection (not vs. electricity; +20 AP) Unified Power (-¼) [-]

 15 Resistant Protection 5 rPD/rED G.R.I.T.-clad Cells 15 AP [-]    

 

 60 VPP Pool G.R.I.T. Versatility 60 AP [-]

 34 VPP Control Cost G.R.I.T. Programming Powers Can Be Changed as a Zero-Phase Action (+1) 60 AP Only G.R.I.T.-based Powers (electro-biological/electro-mechanical adjustment, limited attacks, defense, limited movement, senses; may depend on available materials/energy -½) Unified Power (-¼) [-]

 

189 Total Powers 

   

Perks    

 10 Computer Link: The Ladder  

  1 License: Academic credentials: PhD

  0 Positive Reputation: former child prodigy (world of academia, martial arts, stage magic) 8-    

 

 11 Total Perks

 

Talents - precocious former child prodigy

  4 Double Jointed - Natural Gift, Lifetime Training, Tae Kwon Do

  5 Eidetic Memory - Mnemonics, Method of Loci, Natural Gift

  3 Lightning Calculator - Vedic Arithmetic, Natural Gift

  1 Lightning Reflexes +2 Dex All HTH Attacks - Iaido   

  6 Speed Reader 100x Evelyn Woods Method, Natural Gift   

  6 Striking Appearance +2; +2d6: Still Waters Reach Deep

 

 25 Total Talents

 

Enhancers - precocious former child prodigy

  3 Jack of All Trades - Boy Scout Training

  3 Linguist  - Natural Gift, Lifelong Study

  3 Scholar - (former) Child Prodigy   

  3 Scientist - (former) Child Prodigy

 

 12 Total Enhancers

 

Skills

 

Three time Under-18 World Non-contact Martial Arts Champion

 

 10 Martial Arts Aikido, Iaido, Tae Kwon Do & Wu Shu, Usable Empty-Handed, with Knife, Hook Sword, Sword, Club, Staff, Spear, Polearm, Chain & Rope, G.R.I.T., Hypnosis-as-Skill*    

  4 Martial Block   +2 +2 Block, Abort Aikido Shiite

  5 Disarming Throw +0 +0 Grab Weapon, +5 STR to take weapon away; Target Falls - Aikido Disarm   

  4 Martial Dodge    - +5 Abort - Aikido Sidestep

  4 Martial Escape  +0 +0 +15 Str vs Grab - Aikido Ukemi   

  3 Martial Grab    -1 -1 +10 Str to Hold - Aikido Joint Lock

  4 Martial Strike  +0 +2 Strike, +2d6 - Wu Shu punch, Tae Kwon Do kick

  3 Martial Throw   +0 +1 STR +v/5; Target Falls - Aikido Throw

  4 Nerve Strike    -1 +1 2d6 NND - Aikido Joint Manipulation, Wu Shu Pressure Point Jab

  3 Acrobatics 14- Tae Kwon Do, Parkour

  3 Breakfall 14- Aikido (Up to 17- w/Double Jointed)

  3 Contortionist 14- Wu Shu (Up to 17- w/Double Jointed)

 25 Combat Skill Levels Martial Arts Training: 5 pt levels x5

 10 Defense Maneuver, Full Iaido

  3 Fast Draw Martial Weapons Iaido 14-

  6 KS: Aikido, Iaido, Wu Shu 17-

  5 Rapid Attack Iaido HTH Multiple Attacks Only (-1)

 

    *For campaigns where GMs permit Mental Martial Arts

 

 99 Total Combat Skills (Martial Arts Training)

 

Agility Skills - Enhanced Gifted Athlete

 

  3 Climbing 14- - Eagle Scout Training

  3 Sleight of Hand 14- - Stage Magician Training

  3 Stealth 14- - Eagle Scout Training

  3 Teamwork 14- - Eagle Scout Training, Aikido

 

 12 Total Agility Skills

 

General Skills - Enhanced Prodigy

 

  - AK: Virginia 8-  

  5 Cramming    

 17 LS Spanish, French, German, Italian, Latin, Cantonese, Russian, Hindi, Yiddish, Sardinian, Japanese, Aramaic, Cree, Hebrew, Greek, Persian, Pashtun (2 pts each + language family)

  -  LS English Native – Literate, Dialects    

  - PS Everyman Busker: Stage Magician 12-

  - TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles    

 

 22 Total General Skills

 

Intellect Skills - G.R.I.T.-enhanced Genius

 

  6 Analyze Martial Style, Combat Technique 17-

  1 Bugging 8-  

  3 Computer Programming 17-

  3 Concealment 17-  

  1 Criminology 8-

  3 Cryptography 17-  

  3 Deduction 17-

  3 Disguise 17-  

  3 Electronics 17-

  1 Forgery 8-

  3 Gambling (Stage Magic, Mathematics, Anthropology & Neuropsychology of Game Players) 17-

  3 Inventor 17-  

  8 KS Scout Lore, Games, Military History, Stage Magic 17-

  1 Lipreading 8-

  3 Lockpicking 17-  

  3 Mechanics 17-  

  3 Mimicry 17-  

  3 Paramedics 17-  

  3 Power G.R.I.T. (Int-based) 17-

  6 PS Researcher, Neurologist, Engineer 17-  

  3 Security Systems 17- 

  - Shadowing Everyman 8-  

  2 Survival 17-  

 10 SS Anthropology, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Microbiology, Nanotechnology, Operations Research, Neuropsychology 17-

  3 Systems Operations 17-  

  3 Tactics 17-  

  1 Tracking 8-  

  3 Ventriloquism 17-  

 

106 Total Intellect Skills

 

Interaction Skills - Social Engineering & Stage Magic

 

  3 Acting 14- 16- w/Striking Appearance

  1 Bureaucratics 8- 11- w/Striking Appearance

  1 Charm 8- 11- w/Striking Appearance

  3 Conversation 14- 16- w/Striking Appearance

  3 Oratory 14- 16- w/Striking Appearance

  3 Persuasion 14- 16- w/Striking Appearance

 

 14 Total Interaction Skills

 

 24 Overall Skill 2 levels  

  

496 Total Powers, Perks, Talents, Enhancers & Skills    

 

720 Total CP              

 

Complications    

 

  0 DNPC: Floating

  5 Distinctive Feature: G.R.I.T. Cyborg (Causes Extreme Reaction, Concealable, Detectable Only By Unusual Detects and/or Only By A Small Group and/or Only By Technology Or Major Effort)

 10 Hunted: Floating (As Powerful, NCI, PC Easy to Find, Watching Only, Infrequently)

  0 Negative Reputation: Former Child Prodigy (Infrequent, Only to a Small Group)

  5 Physical: Affected as Two Classes of Mind - Human/Machine (Infrequently, Barely)    

 10 Psych Lim: A Magician Never Reveals (Uncommon, Moderate)    

  0 Psych Lim: Boy Scout Mentality

 10 Psych Lim: Code of Honor (Uncommon, Moderate)    

 10 Psych Lim: Code vs Killing (Uncommon, Moderate) 

  0 Psych Lim: Scientific Curiosity 

  0 Rivalry: Floating

 15 Social: Secret Identity, Dr. Jacob Reiger, young former child prodigy

 10 Social: Floating (Infrequent, Major)   

 

 75 Total Complications    

 

320 Total Bonus Experience    

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Background

 

Jacob Reiger was a child prodigy. As a Beaver Cub, he'd earned every merit badge and precociously taught himself the entire high school curriculum, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Latin and Cantonese and the sciences he came to love. As a Cub Scout, Jake earned all those merit badges and a university degree in Anthropology, came first in his age group for Mathematics and Physics contests at the national level, learned Russian, Hindi, Yiddish, Sardinian, Japanese, Aramaic, Cree and Persian while developing a fascination for stage magic and becoming one of the Magic Guild's youngest autodydacts, with specialty in prop magic and escapology and a fascination for mentalism. As a Boy Scout, Jacob earned yet more merit badges and was for three years running the national champion all-round non-contact mixed martial artist in the under 18 category with techniques dubbed by some spectators as 'Skykido' or 'Wire Line Samurai'. (A competition many 'serious' martial artists sneer at as the rhythmic gymnastics of the combat arts world, except if that world were North America and three countries in Europe; some allege cultural appropriation by Western business as well.)

 

By the age of seventeen, Jacob Reiger defended and published three simultaneous PhD theses involving his project to launch a satellite network by feeding spiders an exotic diet of metals to induce refractive webcasting, and then pulsing a microwave emitter to loft millions of young hatchlings through the stratosphere, converting their webs into a massive sparse matrix dish reflector aimed Earthwards, he called 'Project Ladder'. The 'satellites' were virtually invisible, an array of microscopically thin strands spread out around the planet, detectable only by polarizing interferometry, a technique Jacob invented himself.

 

He'd already moved onto radical photolithography on graphite with surprising results by the time his degrees were granted. Jacob combined the 'Graphite Lithographic Interpolated Circuit' technology to use the network of orbiting spider web reflectors to receive and decode signals from almost every electronic device on the planet. Reading what he found, Reiger had a small nervous breakdown. Covert terrorist organizations, cults, monsters, mad science groups, businesses profiting secretly from every form of deranged and bizarre infliction of suffering, menace and malfeasance. It shocked and dismayed the youngster.

 

The Eagle Scout felt naked and fragile in a shell of childhood ignorance, when he had been so optimistic he could heal the world's ills, for so many years of his brilliant youth. The first thing he did was to clothe himself against what he'd discovered, to arise fully fledged in the best he could produce..

 

Powers

 

..and Dr. Jake Reiger, the teenage phenom who launched an invisible global surveillance satellite network with a few spiders, some pulverized metal, and a dish antenna made from tinfoil could produce very impressive fledging indeed. Mantles of programmable, deeply encrypted, ergometric transparent graphene circuits fit to every cell in his body, imperceptably below the Abbe Resolution limit, integrating with Reiger's every function, gave Jake the power of a tenebrous superhuman: nigh immortality -- and when he chose, virtual invulnerability -- and electrobiochemical sensors linked to the Ladder, regenerative mechanisms and the ability to reconfigure the conformation of his own cells almost without limit.. (in Jake's mind, this isn't a run-on sentence).

 

Jake believes Tenebro is ready to step into the world he has discovered through the Ladder. A superhuman's reach ought exceed his grasp.

 

Tactics

 

Tenebro is a creation of tactics and overthought. He doesn't consider short term goals without fitting them to the big picture, using analysis and deduction at every step. Still honorable, ever-curious, while primarily a covert detective when the big picture demands moments of combat, Tenebro thrills to play out the role that is most useful to his goals: he'll give nothing away and feign powerlessness, overconfidence or naivete, hold back and lull opponents while studying them, misleading them, planting false information for goons to carry back to their masters. He prefers to meet honorable combatants on their own terms, matching weapon-element and observing gunslinger mentality though Tenebro is not limited by it. The honorable warrior can be more easily manipulated, after all, win or lose.

 

Tenebro's goal is to be as underestimated as a grain of dust, until he can work his way through criminal organizations or the underworld that hides monsters and insert that grit in the cogs to break the whole works from within.

 

Tenebro will escalate from flat-footed pretense with inobvious defenses through to full-on showy acrobatic martial artistry, but only use overt powers when he can conceal G.R.I.T. by MacGuyver ploys like 'improvised blaster', 'serum accidentally ingested', 'stolen power armor' or 'coincidentally possessed by extradimensional entity' from the MacGuffin for full on malleable altered shape, or if need be using his hypnotic mastery after the fight to edit memories. He's not too honorable for that. 

 

If Tenebro needs to be captured, he'll check his already inobvious sub-microscopic G.R.I.T. is concealed and disguised -- for example as the residue of the MacGuffin -- lest his captors probe their prisoners in their secret, inaccessible base. Escape, with the requisite drama, is just what a magician does. And if the villains are the kind that kill, Tenebro is not too honorable to escape after death, either. That can help manipulate villain reactions just fine. After all.. 

 

Quote

 

"Tenebro exceeds your grasp."

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"Here I am," Jake thought to himself from the edge of a crenelated rooftop above the dark streets, "not old enough to vote but old enough to go to jail for consecutive lif.. NO."

 

That inner voice derailed his train of thought, "NO. Use Method. Be Tenebro. Tenebro is ageless. No jail can grasp Tenebro. Tenebro is not a citizen, but a precept."

 

Exhaling a great cleansing breath, Jacob Reiger reached deep into his meditative center, self-hypnotizing, remaking himself to be Tenebro, the creation of grit and purpose, born concealed defensively in discovery and protective silence. The hidden hero within arose. Tenebro leapt from the parapet, seeing all with grit, vaulting in quiet ease from surface to surface using more than parkour skill and enhanced gymnastic agility.

 

Moonless night, clear sky cloudlessly dispersing light pollution without reflection, Tenebro's surface shifting like a dark chameleon as he raced for his destination, guided by grit, silent as dust. Inside his head the details rolled, blueprints and personnel files and conviction records, schematics and plundered decrypted messages he'd deduced would lead five career criminals to make a banker's family their hostages, while five more used the banker as a shield and living key to enter the vault. Tenebro replayed voice clips over and over, training his pitch and inflection, pondering nuance and motivation. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.

 

He was outside a triple glazed window of the banker's 23rd floor condominium. Heat signatures showed Tenebro five hostage-takers and three victims in other rooms. Grit seeped around the edge of the window, denaturing the adhesive, and ultravibrational modes crisscrossed the panes until the moment of glassbending warped the triple sheet out of the frame with a soft rush of air. Slipping into the darkened master bedroom and pulling the glass back into place, reversing the process that opened the way, the magician erased all trace of the trick, and scanned his surrounds.

 

Tenebro found the access to the ductwork above the closet organizer, and contorted to fit through the narrow passages, carefully compensating for his added weight using magnetic fields to prevent noise, finding himself above the two armed goons monitoring the security cameras within the banker's panic room. Popping out the vent, the martial artist dropped from the ceiling without a hint of shifting shadow to give him away, having eluded the security systems by being inside it from the start. A single motion disarmed both kidnappers and threw them into the reinforced, soundproofed, earthquake-proof reinforced syncrete wall, knocking the wind out of their lungs and stunning them momentarily.

 

A second jab, using their own blasters like clamps, painfully pinned the duo's wrists at their own throats, as Tenebro locked eyes on the one he'd judged more susceptible to manipulation, while the other quietly choked into senselessness. Whispering, low and deep and insidious reached down inside the thug's subconscious mind, weaving images, disembodied voices and false memory seamlessly. The rescuer's newly-willing ally gave the regular all's-well check-in code and counter-code with the trio holding the banker's family. No, Tenebro reminded himself, Katy, Kathleen and Philip. They were people, not bank property. Their husband and father was Liam, not 'the banker'.

 

With every second counting, Tenebro concentrated now on bringing back around the throttled thug, too, hypnotizing her with more care and effort, so on her turn her check-in could proceed. He half heard the first hypnotized criminal give his check-in with the five-team at the bank, with military efficiency. Military? Tenebro rechecked the personnel files, the criminal record, castigating himself. They'd been doctored. There was more to this than met the eye.

 

So warned, Tenebro proceeded with extraordinary tiers of caution. The masks the men wore contained concealed filters and very advanced rebreather technology. Cross-referencing, the same design was associated in an old Ladder file under.. VIPER.

 

Examining the thug's gear in greater detail, Tenebro assessed their threat level and defenses, and edited his plan with improvisations to circumvent VIPER agent protections. Breathing out a cloud of grit, Tenebro controlled its flow through the vents into the adjoining room, where the hostages were trembling and weeping under the watch of three heavily armed, highly trained terrorist combat veterans. The grit went to work, altering circuit pathways and shifting functions and then, coordinating with his own programmed attack, Tenebro emerged from the panic room just as the blasters discharged their entire energy reserves through the hands of their wielders, shocking them unconscious while they still stood, three vicious Tae Kwon Do kicks to their heads crumpling the trio before the hostages could even scream.

 

Crouching, loosing the victim's bonds, Tenebro began explaining, "Liam is still in danger. I know this will be hard for you. It is much to ask. Liam needs you to remain very still, to act as if you are still hostages, until you can be brought out of here. The two .. kidnappers in the panic room have.. become cooperative. They cannot harm you, but they must remain in place, signalling as if all is well so their partners with Liam do not become suspicious. Can you do this for Liam?"

 

Jake, deep within the head of Tenebro gaped a little. Does he not see he's terrifying them?

 

The bank wasn't far. Liam wouldn't have much time. Tenebro had five serious threats to neutralize, and a bank to break into. He raced through the night like a blur of grit, leaving the banker's family to play their part.

 

Trouble. The banker had demanded proof his family was safe and unharmed, becoming bravely obstinate. Radio exchanges crackled between the fiveteam at the bank and the duo at the condo. Tenebro prayed his hypnotic suggestion would hold, the hostages would play their part. And redoubled his speed in case of the worst.

 

Penetrating a bank proved remarkably easy, Tenebro considered. He was forgetting how unlike human he'd made himself. That would be a tendency to watch out against, Jake noted.

 

Then, the worst. This wasn't a VIPER fiveteam, he faced. This was a VIPER special squad. Red Dachi stood guard in the bank lobby while the rest were further in, out of sight, with Liam, the banker.

 

A precious impulse of mischief flitted across Tenebro's mind. Mr. Banks from Mary Poppins popped into his head as he lurked, studying Red Dachi, looking for an opening in the perilous defenses of the villainous sentry. Grit fabricated a bowler hat and 19th century British upperclass garb, right down to a parrot-headed walkingstick umbrella. Through the bank doors strolled like a figure from the Disney film the picture of bankerdom, quietly singing soto voce:

 

"..bank is run with precision
.. home requires nothing less
Tradition, discipline and rules must be the tools
With out them disorder, catastrophe, anarchy
In short you have a ghastly mess

 

Red Dachi stomped forward, sneering, ::Western Fool! You sing your own dirge as you dance toward your grave!:: Apparently, either the sociopathic samurai had not seen the movie, or he shared PJ Travers' opinion of the Disney version.

 

::Who is the greater fool, the man with a song on his lips, or the warrior who has sold his honor for rice shares?:: the banker replies, in passable Japanese, citing the Renowned Sage of the seventeenth century court in Edo.

 

Red Dachi believes himself to be the reincarnation of Miyomoto Musashi. ::Barbarian scum! You dare offend the honor of Shinmen Takezō?! If you had a blade, you might die like a warrior. Instead, you will be butchered like a pig!::

 

Tenebro-as-Mr.-Banks casually parries the first charge of the psychopath, returning to song, mockingly, "I feel a surge of deep satisfaction, Much as a king astride his noble steed, When I return from daily strife to hearth and wife; How pleasant is the life I lead."

 

Rather than outrage, Red Dachi seems pleased, grinning with obvious malicious glee. ::At last. An opponent worthy of dying by the blade of Niten Dōraku!::

 

Tenebro now realized he would be facing the full on assault of the Two Swords style. He mustered all his grit, dismissing the private thought, "..not old enough to buy beer, but old enough to face a man who's murdered dozens of people with a sword in single combat.." and drew from the umbrella sheath a carbon composite katana blade, hard as diamond, black as villainy. Singing, "..I'm the lord of my castle, the sovereign, the liege; I treat my subjects -- servants, children, wife -- With a firm but gentle hand: noblesse oblige."

 

Red Dachi's VIPER-engineered armor (Reiger noted, with disdain, fake authenticity) blunted Tenebro's blade; Jake had no problem with configuring grit to be defense the equal of the psychopath's attacks, being honorable not stupid. The passes were lethal in force and so fast an ordinary observer would not even see the blades. Even defended as they were, both combatants took cuts, although Tenebro faked the blood from his, a disturbing shade of blue. Just as abruptly as the fight began, it ended, with Red Dachi sheathing his sword and bowing. ::Your technique is true. I cannot defeat you at this time. I choose to withdraw to face you another day. You may pass unhindered, Parrot-warrior.::

 

And with that, and a swirl of hakima and mantle, the pseudosamurai vanished, teleporting beyond Tenebro's senses by some means beyond Reiger's science. "Well, isn't that.. fascinating," Tenebro exclaimed softly. He took a moment for his grit to heal his injuries, then reconfigure to face the other four kidnappers deeper in the bank.

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Stretching fiber-optic fingers periscopically around corners, Tenebro scouted ahead, counting all four shapes he expected to see: Liam huddled on the floor, bound and gagged with Maria standing over him, her back to Tenebro's vantage point. Chad was near the elbow of Hamish Sitteach-Lamh, working to circumvent the vault's time-locks and fool it into thinking it was opening time. Grrl was grooming the luridly green and purple striped fur of her forearms with her tongue, squatting atop a table, tail swishing slowly. Periscopic vision wasn't ideal, giving distorted sense of size and distance, but it allowed Jacob to build a mind map for his next trick.

 

Distracting the audience with a good impersonation of Red Dachi's shouting voice, drawing their eyes while Maria's fists balled up menacingly; Grrl slowed her cleaning then resumed it again nonchalantly, ears swiveling toward the lobby, perked; Chad's head turned toward Maria, not the sound of No Dachi, and Hamish remained focused on his task, answering, "Oy. Red. Whatcha bin told 'bout dat jibber-jabber? Talk proper English, mate. Don't want ter make Ringer's puir wee Brazen lassie fidgety-like."

 

That confirmed for Tenebro as he slid past their perceptions that none of the four spoke Japanese, what with the ventriliquism being a standard order of octopus and carp head soup with a side of ginger rolls and tamago.

 

When ready, with a swirl of hakima and sleeves, 'Red Dachi' popped into view. And Jake saw Maria clearly, an effort of will preventing the teenage boy's jaw from dropping and his voice from cracking as she turned her bronze face with a whirl of coppery curls flowing over her glinting shoulder and cascading down to a Grateful Dead tattoo etched at the small of her back. "Easy boy, she's taken, and a literal ton of trouble besides" Tenebro told Jake inside their shared head, pointing out the obvious attachment between Chad in the ring-festooned costume and the eight-foot tall brass Amazon woman. "She's an obstacle, not a damsel in distress. Respect that she has to be at least as strong as a forklift to even be able to move. Maybe take advantage that she's here reluctantly, and none too coordinated."

 

Grrl hissed as she produced claws from her fingertips. Tenebro was far from the strangest being in this room. Brazen must be organometallic, he noted to himself.

 

"Red, lad, yuir off yuir post. Get back on watch", Hamish ordered. "An' hoof it, ye Eastern Devil. Ye know how that magic sword o' yuirs gives tha girlies fits."

 

Tenebro took advantage of the flat-footed surprise of the villains to launch a sweep of Grrl, Ringer and Sitteach-Lamh with the flat of the fake magic sword he wielded, electric taser added to the blunt force failing to work against Ringer, but flattening Grrl entirely and stunning the Scotsman. The blunt force had broken one of Ringer's ablative defensive rings, but did no more. Predictably, Brazen stepped clumsily forward and swung with far more strength than precision, imbedding a fist in the reinforced syncrete wall. Unpredictably, Ringer surrounded 'Red Dachi' in a confining set of toroidal force bubbles. If he had more time to study the rings, Jake would be fascinated. Also, Brazen was extraordinarily anatomically distracting to a teenage boy.

 

To save Jake from himself, Tenebro slipped loose of the bonds while the three remaining conscious opponents recovered. His purpose was to rescue the hostage, not showboat. With the only villain able to track and catch him out of action, Tenebro didn't let up as he slid out of the rings, but picked up Liam, and throwing the man over his shoulder sprinted out of the bank under the cover of darkness as a cloud of gritty dust obscured senses, frustrating the villain squad.

 

The call went out from the team at the bank to the condo, "Shoot the hostages and return to base." The post-hypnotic duo fired six shots, two for each hostage, missing them by a goodly margin, then between them scooped up the three fallen agents and returned to base, with no memory anything odd had happened, other than the strange weapons malfunction that knocked out three of their number and made the other two weapons fizzle after killing their targets. To the five team of agents, the banker's family were dead, as had always been the plan.

 

Red Dachi had escaped, but would remain in VIPER's infirmary for a goodly time, his psychopathy a danger only to VIPER medibots. VIPER was busy adding Omu Senshi to its database of targets, with only a description that turned out to be the spitting image of long dead actor David Tomlinson as George Banks. VIPER leadership was sorely tempted to execute Red Dachi for dereliction, based on Sitteach-Lamh's report. The banker had disappeared into PRIMUS protective custody after the murder of his family (even VIPER was unaware they had survived unharmed), and the MacGuffin had been moved from the vault, entailing more expensive tracking by VIPER to locate it and mount its extraction again.

 

Lab assistants Chad and Maria met a new friend the following week, young Jake, who wanted to join their university Chemistry Club. He'd been at the university for two years now, it was time he started to participate in it socially, he said. Not like other seventeen year olds weren't in the Club. Of course they'd been freshmen, not advanced grads. Chad and Maria laughed in privately at how tongue-tied little Jake got around her.. but not in a mean way. Not really. It's not like Chad had put a ring on it.

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I've been looking at other builds, on the premise that G.R.I.T. might be considered a follower or vehicle, The Ladder a form of base, and Tenebro's characteristics and powers would largely come from Aid or Heal from the vehicle.

 

While the outcome is similar, and in some ways closer to my imagining of a nanite-integrated martial artist, and it is considerably cheaper as a build, by about 150 pts overall, I'm still not convinced it's the right way to go just because it's less expensive.

 

Tenebro isn't conceived of as a combat pilot operating an under-the-skin walking machine; he's a single -- albeit prodigiously gifted -- being coping with being the first of his kind (that he knows of), and that's a substantial difference.

 

On the whole, I'm happy with the character at the 720 pt level. While I can see effective paths for trimming down to 400 CP, the stories I want to tell about him start at this build. For storytelling, I'm happy to keep Tenebro as is. Maybe for game play I might build a version of Jake Reiger at an even earlier age, a few months younger before The Ladder and G.R.I.T. and with considerably less honed skills:

 

Characteristics - Walkover - aka Jake Reiger Boy Genius
 
VAL CHA  CP Base Price END Roll Notes
 25 STR  12  10    1   [1] -14  Lift 800 kg; 5d6 HTH - 10 STR OIF (-½) Walking Suit
 23 DEX  23  10    2       -14  5 DEX OIF (-½) Walking Suit
 19 CON   10    1       -13  5 CON OIF (-½) Walking Suit
 38 INT  19  10    1   [1] -17  PER Roll 17-; 15 INT Cost END to Start (-¼) OAF (-1) HUD
 23 EGO  13  10    1       -14
 25 PRE  12  10    1   [1] -14  PRE Attack: 5d6; 10 PRE Cost END to Start (-¼) Unified Power (-¼) Hypnotism
  8 OCV  20   3    5            3 OCV OIF (-½)
  8 DCV  20   3    5            3 DCV OIF (-½)
  6 OMCV  9   3    3
  6 DMCV  9   3    3
  6 SPD  33   2   10            Phases: 12, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10; 2 SPD OIF (-½)
  6 PD    4   2    1            11(5r) PD
  4 ED    2   2    1             9(5r) ED
  4 REC   0   4    1
 20 END   20    ½
 10 BODY  0  10    1
 20 STUN  0  20    ½
Meters Movement            
  4 LEAP  0   4    ½   [1]      up to half upward
 12 RUN   0  12    1   [1]      X2 Noncombat
  4 SWIM  0      ½   [1]      X2 Noncombat
 
183 Characteristics & Movement Total
 
 CP  Powers  Notes  [END]    
 
Powers 
 
  5 Mental Defense 5 AP Hypnotist 5 AP [-]
  5 Mental Illusion 3d6  Hypnotism-as-Skill 15 AP Increased Cumulative Points ( 72 AP; +1) ½ END (+¼) 31 AP Concentration (0 DCV; -½) Extra Time (1 turn; -1¼) Eye Contact (-½) Hypnosis Only (cannot achieve full range of Mental Illusion effects; -½) Linked to Mental Illusion (greater power linked to lesser power, must use lesser power at full value -¾) No Range (-½) Reduced Penetration (-¼) Requires Conversation Roll (-½) Unified Power (-¼) [1]
  4 Mind Control 2d6  Hypnotism-as-Skill 10 AP Increased Cumulative Points ( 48 AP; +1) 0 END (+½) 25 AP Concentration (0 DCV; -½) Extra Time (1 turn; -1¼) Eye Contact (-½) Hypnosis Only (cannot achieve full range of Mind Control effects; -½) Linked to Mental Illusion (lesser power linked to greater power, must use greater power at full value -¾) No Range (-½) Reduced Penetration (-¼) Requires Persuasion Roll (-½) Unified Power (-¼) [0]
 
 10 Resistant Protection 5 rPD/rED 15 AP OIF (-1/2) Walking Suit [-]
 
 20 VPP Pool STEM Versatility 20 AP [-]
 13 VPP Control Cost STEM 20 AP Only STEM-based Powers (electro-biological/electro-mechanical adjustment, limited attacks, defense, limited movement, senses; may depend on available materials/energy -½) [-]
 
 57 Total Powers
   
Perks    
 
  0 Positive Reputation: former child prodigy (world of academia, martial arts, stage magic) 8-
 
  0 Total Perks
 
Talents - precocious former child prodigy
  4 Double Jointed - Natural Gift, Lifetime Training, Tae Kwon Do
  5 Eidetic Memory - Mnemonics, Method of Loci, Natural Gift
  3 Lightning Calculator - Vedic Arithmetic, Natural Gift
  1 Lightning Reflexes +2 Dex All HTH Attacks - Iaido
  3 Speed Reader 10x Evelyn Woods Method, Natural Gift
 
 16 Total Talents
 
Enhancers - precocious former child prodigy
 
  3 Linguist  - Natural Gift, Lifelong Study
  3 Scholar - (former) Child Prodigy
  3 Scientist - (former) Child Prodigy
 
  9 Total Enhancers
 
Skills
 
Two time Under-18 World Non-contact Martial Arts Champion
 
  2 Martial Arts Aikido, Iaido, Tae Kwon Do & Wu Shu, Usable Empty-Handed, with Sword, Staff
  4 Martial Block   +2 +2 Block, Abort - Aikido Shiite
  5 Disarming Throw +0 +0 Grab Weapon, +5 STR to take weapon away; Target Falls - Aikido Disarm
  4 Martial Dodge    - +5 Abort - Aikido Sidestep
  4 Martial Escape  +0 +0 +15 Str vs Grab - Aikido Ukemi
  3 Martial Grab    -1 -1 +10 Str to Hold - Aikido Joint Lock
  4 Martial Strike  +0 +2 Strike, +2d6 - Wu Shu punch, Tae Kwon Do kick
  3 Martial Throw   +0 +1 STR +v/5; Target Falls - Aikido Throw
 
  3 Acrobatics 14- Tae Kwon Do, Parkour
  3 Breakfall 14- Aikido (Up to 17- w/Double Jointed)
  1 Contortionist 8- Wu Shu (Up to 11- w/Double Jointed)
 
  6  Aikido Skill 2 levels
 20 Combat Skill Levels Martial Arts Training: 5 pt levels x2; x3 OIF (-1/2) Armor
 
 62 Total Combat Skills (Martial Arts Training)
 
Agility Skills - Enhanced Gifted Athlete
 
  3 Climbing 14- - Eagle Scout Training
  3 Sleight of Hand 14- - Stage Magician Training
  - Stealth Everyman 8-
  1 Teamwork 8- - Eagle Scout Training, Aikido
 
  7 Total Agility Skills
 
General Skills - Enhanced Prodigy
 
  - AK: Virginia Everyman 8-
  - KS: Aikido Everyman 11-
 14 LS Spanish, French, German, Italian, Latin, Cantonese, Russian, Hindi, Yiddish, Sardinian, Japanese, Aramaic, Cree, Hebrew,  (2 pts each + language family)
  - LS English Native Everyman – Literate, Dialects
  - PS Everyman Busker: Stage Magician 11-
  - TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles
 
 14 Total General Skills
 
Intellect Skills - Enhanced Genius
 
  1 Analyze Martial Style 8-
  3 Computer Programming 17-
  3 Concealment 17-
  1 Cryptography 8-
  3 Deduction 17-
  1 Disguise 8-
  1 Electronics 8-
  1 Gambling (Stage Magic, Mathematics, Anthropology & Neuropsychology of Game Players) 8-
  3 Inventor 17- (Skill for STEM Pool Control)
  4 KS Scout Lore, Games, Military History, Stage Magic 11-
  1 Lipreading 8-
  3 Lockpicking 17-
  1 Mechanics 8-
  1 Mimicry 8-
  - Paramedics Everyman 8-
  3 PS Researcher, Neurologist, Engineer 8-
  3 Security Systems 17-
  - Shadowing Everyman 8-
  1 Survival 8-
  7 SS Anthropology, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Microbiology 11-
  1 Systems Operations 8-
  1 Tracking 8-
  1 Ventriloquism 8-
 
 44 Total Intellect Skills
 
Interaction Skills - Social Engineering & Stage Magic
 
  1 Acting 8-
  3 Conversation 14- 16- w/Striking Appearance
  1 Oratory 8-
  3 Persuasion 14- 16- w/Striking Appearance
 
  8 Total Interaction Skills
   
217 Total Powers, Perks, Talents, Enhancers & Skills
 
400 Total CP
 
Complications    
 
  0 DNPC: Floating
  5 Distinctive Feature: Teenager
 10 Hunted: Floating (As Powerful, NCI, PC Easy to Find, Watching Only, Infrequently)
  0 Negative Reputation: Former Child Prodigy (Infrequent, Only to a Small Group)
 10 Psych Lim: A Magician Never Reveals (Uncommon, Moderate)    
  0 Psych Lim: Boy Scout Mentality
 10 Psych Lim: Code of Honor (Uncommon, Moderate)    
 10 Psych Lim: Code vs Killing (Uncommon, Moderate)
  0 Psych Lim: Scientific Curiosity
  5 Rivalry: Floating
 15 Social: Secret Identity, Dr. Jacob Reiger, young former child prodigy
 10 Social: Floating (Infrequent, Major)  
 
 75 Total Complications    
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