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Goofy characters


GCMorris

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“Uh oh – as if actually discussing the possibility that we're up against a vampire weren't surreal enough, here comes that crazy poet.”

 

The group looked up to see it was so. But before anything could be said, the mysteriously smiling poet held up his sketchpad and arrested their attention. It displayed the very man, if man it was, that they sought, standing at an intersection with the names on the street signs clearly visible.

 

“This should be helpful – in more ways that one,” said the subtly musical voice with its hard to place accent.

 

Before their eyes the picture moved and changed, as the thing they knew only as Mr. Rice crossed the street...

 

 

 

 

 

Mystery Man AKA Haile DuBois

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

11 STR 1 11- Lift 114.9kg; 2d6 [2]

14 DEX 12 12- OCV: 5/DCV: 5

13 CON 6 12-

10 BODY 0 11-

13 INT 3 12- PER Roll 12-

14 EGO 8 12- ECV: 5

18 PRE 8 13- PRE Attack: 3 1/2d6

18 COM 4 13- (Yeah, he's beautiful)

 

3/6 PD 1 Total: 3/6 PD (0/3 rPD)

3/6 ED 0 Total: 3/6 ED (0/3 rED)

3 SPD 6 Phases: 4, 8, 12

5 REC 0

20 END -3

23 STUN 0 Total Characteristic Cost: 49

 

Movement:

Running: 7"/14"

Leaping: 2"/4"

Swimming:3"/6"

 

Cost Powers END

1 You wear sandals in the snow: Life Support (Safe in Intense Cold) (2 Active Points); Requires A Mystic Skill Roll (Modify by Temperature Category, not Active Points; -3/4)

 

2 Building a Mystery: Change Environment: Sanctify 1" radius, -1 to Necromancy and Demonology rolls, Time Delay (+1/4), MegaScale (1" = 10 km; +1/2), 1 Continuing Charge lasting 1 Season (+1) (14 Active Points); Window Of Opportunity (once per Month; window remains open for 1 Week; -1 3/4), Extra Time (20 Minutes, Only to Activate, Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/2), No Conscious Control (Exact size, duration often less than max) (Only Effects cannot be controlled; -1), No Range (-1/2) [1 cc]

 

“Window of Opportunity is actually not one week out of a month; it's several days and nights scattered across the month, including always the full moon, new moon, and usually times of occult ritual significance such as solstices and equinoxes. Mystery Man isn't always aware of why a given date is significant, but he will sense when it's coming (“I'll be able to do it in another eleven days.....around noon I think....”) and know when it's here (“The hour is come....”) Building a Mystery: Sanctify is mainly meant to trigger weaknesses related to being on “holy ground” but does carry a penalty to certain skills.

 

8 Holding on, and holding it in: (Total: 91 Active Cost, 8 Real Cost) Suppress BOD 1d6+1 (standard effect: 4 points), Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), MegaScale (1" = 10 km; +1/2), No Normal Defense (Possessing holy relic, or holy powers; +1), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Day; +1 1/2), Invisible Power Effects, Hide effects of Power (Fully Invisible; +2) (47 Active Points); Window Of Opportunity (once per Month; window remains open for 1 Week; -1 3/4), Gradual Effect (1 Day; -1 3/4), Limited Power Only vs Undead, Demons, and similarly evil occult creatures (-1 1/2), Extra Time (20 Minutes, Only to Activate, -1 1/4), No Conscious Control (Only Effects cannot be controlled; -1), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), No Range (-1/2), Activation Roll 14-, Burnout (-1/4), Requires A Mystic Skill Roll (No Active Point penalty to Skill Roll, RSR Skill is subject to Skill vs. Skill contests (Necromancy, Demonology, or similar magic skills); -1/4), Physical Manifestation (symbol inscribed on wall or pavement, small shrine, painting, etc.; -1/4), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/4) (Real Cost: 4) plus Suppress 1d6, all Necromantic or Diabolical powers simultaneously (+2), Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), MegaScale (1" = 10 km; +1/2), No Normal Defense (Possessing holy relic, or holy powers; +1), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Day; +1 1/2), Invisible Power Effects, Hide effects of Power (Fully Invisible; +2) (44 Active Points); Window Of Opportunity (once per Month; window remains open for 1 Week; -1 3/4), Gradual Effect (1 Day; -1 3/4), Limited Power Only vs Undead, Demons, and similarly evil occult creatures (-1 1/2), Extra Time (20 Minutes, Only to Activate, -1 1/4), No Conscious Control (Only Effects cannot be controlled; -1), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), No Range (-1/2), Activation Roll 14-, Burnout (-1/4), Requires A Mystic Skill Roll (No Active Point penalty to Skill Roll, RSR Skill is subject to Skill vs. Skill contests (Necromancy, Demonology, or similar magic skills); -1/4), Physical Manifestation (symbol inscribed on wall or pavement, small shrine, painting, etc.; -1/4), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/4) (Real Cost: 4) End Cost:16

 

Both more tiring and more directly effective than Sanctify, this power actively suppresses the forces of evil. Fortunately it's totally Invisible and leaves the monsters baffled – if they even realize they are less powerful than before. The Physical Manifestation is usually some work of art – from graffiti on a wall to a “razor wire shrine” set up on a rooftop to a painting. If he has time he'll take extra time to get a bonus to the skill roll.

 

5 Building a mystery: Invisibility to Sight, Mystic and Hearing Groups (30 Active Points); Limited Power Only Vs. Undead, Demons, and occult or otherworldly beings. (-1 1/2), Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2), Only When Not Attacking (-1/2), Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (1/2 DCV; -1/2), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), Restrainable (-1/2), Limited Power May only make half moves (-1/2), Requires A Mystic Skill Roll And A Stealth Skill Roll (No Active Point penalty to Skill Roll; -1/4) End Cost 6

 

Has saved his life more than once by allowing him to sneak away quietly....

 

2 Building a Mystery: Mental Defense (8 points total)

 

Mystery Man is hard to read

 

3 A prayer from your Secret God: Force Field (2 PD/2 ED/3 Mental Defense/5 Power Defense) (12 Active Points); Only Works Against Undead, Diabolical or Necromantic powers (-1), Only When Not Attacking (-1/2), Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), Requires A Mystic Skill Roll (Active Point penalty to Skill Roll is -1 per 20 Active Points; -1/4) END cost 2

 

Some prayers are answered.....

 

Perks

5 You live in a church: Base

3 Builing a mystery: Anonymity

10 A prayer from your secret God: Contact (Contact has extremely useful Skills or resources, Contact has significant Contacts of his own), Spirit Contact (x2) (10 Active Points) 8-

 

Often a valuable source of information. And sometimes “equipment” as the Secret God may inspire the Mystery Man to craft items of power for specific limited time uses...

 

Talents

12 And a cross from a faith that died before Jesus came: Turn Undead

 

Pedantic note: I suspect the song means the Ankh. But the Egyptian religion did not in fact die until a few centuries after Jesus came. (some claim it never died, but that's another issue.)

 

2 You come out at night, that's when the energy comes: Rapid Healing (5 Active Points); Limited Power Only at night (-1)

10 a prayer from your secret God: Divine Favor

3 And the dark side's light: Magesight, Telescopic: +1, Tracking (11 Active Points); No Conscious Control (-2), Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2)

 

Tracking on Magesight helps to spot where malevolent influinces emanate from.

 

3 A prayer from your secret God: Combat Luck (3 PD/3 ED) (6 Active Points); Requires A Mystic Skill Roll (Active Point penalty to Skill Roll is -1 per 5 Active Points; -1), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4)

 

Skills

3 Cause you're working, building a mystery: Power: Mystic 12-

 

3 And your suicide poem: PS: Compose Poetry 12-

3 you're setting up your razor wire shrine: PS: Artist 12-

 

These PS skills probably won't be complimentary to his “Working” skill. However, they do make it more likely he can sell his Physical Manifestations, or that they'll be accepted as gifts.

 

3 You're so beautiful, with an edge and a charm: Seduction 13-

3 Give us a tantrum, and a know it all grin: Oratory 13-

3 Just when we need one, when the evening's thin: Conversation 13-

3 And choosing so carefully: Deduction 12-

3 Building a mystery: Concealment 12-

3 Building a mystery: Stealth 12-

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 96

Total Cost: 145

 

75+ Disadvantages

5 You woke up screaming aloud Physical Limitation, Nightmares: (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)

5 Oh you're so beautiful, a beautiful focked up man Reputation: 8- (Extreme; Known Only To A Small Group)

20 you won't give up the search, for the ghosts in the halls Psychological Limitation: (Very Common, Strong)

5 But so careful, when I'm in your arms Dependent NPC (Variable – friends, lovers, innocents caught up in machinations of dark forces): 8- (Slightly Less Powerful than the PC – because he only gets involved with people who can take care of themselves)

10 And the vampires roam Hunted by creatures of the night: 8- (As Pow, Non Combat Influence, Limited Geographical Area (Not usually by day, can't enter holy ground, etc.), Harshly Punish)

15 Can you look out the window without your shadow getting in the way Psychological Limitation: Amnesia: doesn't remember clearly past the last couple of years, and is disturbed by that fact. (Uncommon, Total)

5 you strut your Rasta wear Distinctive Features: Looks like a “usual suspect” (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

5 And a smile that won't wash away Distinctive Features: Haunting smile (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

5 you feed off our fears, and hold back your tears Dependence: -20 Active Points from Affected Powers (Common: Make at least 1XPRE on a PRE attack to inspire fear or awe., 1 Day)

 

Total Disadvantage Points: 75

 

Background/History: No one knows where the Mystery Man came from, how he got title to an abandoned church, or what he's talking about half the time. Even he doesn't know who he really is, and much of what he does know - such as the Name of his "Secret God" - he will never repeat where mortals may hear. Rumors say he came from, or has traveled in, exotic lands like Jamaica, Haiti, Egypt, and Ethiopia.

 

Personality/Motivation: The Mystery Man is almost literally a man possessed. Haunted by memories, and by darker things deep in his mind beyond the light of (waking) memory, he is driven to combat the lurking evils he sees in his world. Guided by his inscrutable divine patron, he is a stalker of shadows, vampire hunter, exorcisor of haunted houses, bane and occasional target of monsters most people dismiss as the stuff of nightmares.

 

Quote: "Funny how often our monsters are actually terrified of US...."

 

Powers/Tactics: What powers the Mystery Man has are mostly weak or unreliable. He will almost always avoid a direct physical confrontation, instead following the promptings of intuition or of his secret God as to where, when, and how to sanctify an area and protect it from these abominations. His audience need never know that an incomprehensible but strangely moving poem recited at a coffeehouse, Egyptian heiroglyphic graffitti in an alley, and an unauthorized "art installation" in a park, are what pinned a vampire in his coffin until it could be found and destroyed. He often presents his art as gifts to people he knows will keep them somewhere in the city - indeed, he has been known to hand his work to complete strangers in the street. This makes it harder to find and destroy all the Physical Manifestations of his power.

 

Campaign Use: Even if the Mystery Man has tracked something to its lair and managed to, over the course of a month, stack a few successful Suppressions on top of it, he may well look around for help finishing the monster off.

 

Appearance: Tall, lean, bearded, and dark, the Mystery Man wears his hair in dreadlocks. He often dresses like a "hippy" or "Rasta man" or just a homeless bum, and draws a certain amount of police attention both for that and for his tendency to "hassle the straights" (his powers require him to inspire a certain amount of "fear or awe" on a regular basis to keep working. Normally he does that with things like PRE attacks from stage while reciting poetry in coffee houses, but that's not always possible....)

 

“Building a Mystery” song by Sarah McLachlan. Mystery Man character by

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Tagline by Palindromedary Enterprises

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Probably too many to count.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks I should assemble some and have a poll to see which people consider goofiest.

Offers to bribe the Palindromedary to make you post them ! 

 

Opale, wondering btw if Brickhouse counts as one goofy character too afterall

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Back in the Champions I - II - III days I had a character named Kaptain Hero that was a Greatest American Hero rip off.  He had the standard Superman power set, but all with 11 or less Activation Rolls. 

 

He'd go to fly across the battlefield, oops, a 13.  Not this action phase. 

 

He'd fly into the air to engage the villains, yes, he flies.  Next action phase he'd roll to stay in the air.  Nope, falling back to earth. 

 

Oh no, an NPC is trapped under a car!  Roll to activate Super Strength!  12, so sorry.  Maybe I'll save you later, citizen.  

 

I got a kick out of it, but the other players & the GM absolutely HATED that character.  

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Of course I do. Though withier its because of design or accident if a bit of a debate. For example I would definitely argue there is nothing goofy about Jet Justice. He's a classic of a type that thrilled readers for decades. Now modern readers might argue he's a cliché, but I would disagree.

 

Which leads to the question what counts as goofy. For instance the Cruel Cod was intended as a goofy flashback to villains such as the Worm from Dynomutt and the Clam from Plasticman. Though considering the high powered weaponry he has the goofy factor is lessened. And some charecters you don't plan on being goofy just end up that way. Like the Red Barron whose flying harness was inobvious but required him to be in a seated position to use. After the players learned he didn't have an invisible plane, they found him a bit goofier than I intended.

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Like the Red Barron whose flying harness was inobvious but required him to be in a seated position to use. After the players learned he didn't have an invisible plane, they found him a bit goofier than I intended.

Reminds me here some years ago the question for complications for legs amputated/disabled... but keeping your running/swimming/leaping at full speed, and for a horse it would be a hovering legless horse galloping away... or however it was doing it :P

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We had The Bat, who was the 3e 50pt DNPC sidekick of one of my players. Batarangs, gliding, sonar and a 6d6 sonic EB. Plus a major overconfidence thing. Despite being demonstrably weaker than any villain, he'd always turn up and have a go, forcing Polaris to jump to his rescue.

 

He also had a couple of Unluck dice and got used as a jinx.

 

In City of Heroes I ran quite a lot of oddball and joke characters, some of which are possibly getting a Champions run. Zebra Boy is likely. As old man Mugabe says: "Zebra Boy! What are you doing in my hut!? Get out!"

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Arguably my character Star Girl and her associates count. They are all named for their dramatic role.

 

She's the star. She's a young woman.

 

Her romantic interest is named Hot Boy.

 

His best friend is named Wingman.

 

Her arch-nemesis is the nefarious Doctor Nefarious (who is always up to something nefarious).

 

I don't have a name for her best friend, but it would be something along the same lines.

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Offers to bribe the Palindromedary to make you post them ! 

 

Opale, wondering btw if Brickhouse counts as one goofy character too afterall

Lots of them are probably if not lost, hard to find now.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary may have eaten several

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So no-one came up with Goofy or Donald Duck or Pluto ?

 

I did a guy called Armagideon, the similarity to Armageddon is intentional. He stuck rocket boosters onto Big Ben once. But I got one of the other players who was the main GM with him once Big Time. He pretended to be Lord Foul the Despiser and even did a song. This should have clued him in.

'From Banbury to Tunbridge Wells,

I'm A'Jeroth of the Seven Hells' etc

 

It didn't. Left him partly paralysed as he had read the books. After he was unmasked and knocked unconscious, the player was unhappy. Later he admitted that he had been caught completely out. His girlfriend was not. Which is one of the reasons that women are a godsend as they don't think like guys.

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A friend and I ran an intentionally silly game years and years ago.  Our PCs were superhero parodies, Super-Student and Captain Rock.  I don't recall SS's origin but he was basically Superman with weird twists.  The good Captain was a rock-n-roll based hero who hated disco and shot energy blasts from his guitar.  They tangled with such baddies as the Disco Dozen, who wielded a mind-controlling disco ball and razor-edged LPs; The Elephant (who had the head of an elephant, but nobody noticed it as long as he kept his glasses on, and nobody could figure out his bespectacled Secret ID); and the Cosmic Custodian, the mild-mannered school janitor who became possessed by the massively powerful Cosmic Ashtray, and who just wanted to keep the school clean, which of course meant cleansing it of people.

 

In our "serious" games, we've had a few goofy ones.  One PC that stands out was Bullfrog, the Sonic Amphibian; a mutant teenager who turned into a 3 1/2' tall frog when he hit puberty.

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Obviously that name would be Besty.  Bonus points if her real first name is Betsy.

 

Or Bea F. Eff

 

If Bea is just a DNPC that'd be enough. If she needs a hero name, maybe Girl Friend. And I'm going to HATE myself for suggesting the next one... but if the campaign tone is appropriate and she's a busty lady you could go with Bosom Buddy. (ducks)

 

If Star Girl's father is around he could be Old Man. (sorry @Old Man)

 

@Armory: Those are some serious gold. I LOVE The Elephant. But a little sad that Disco ended up on the side of evil.

 

Which does remind me of a partially goofy tribute group I used, The Funky Four, who got their powers from smoking the Cosmic Weed in 1968 (the players have only encountered them through time travel - Weed and/or the FF's arch enemy Doctor Jive came up with a time travel machine called the Time Tripper):

 

Mister Funky (Weed Washington) Stretching powers and all around cool brother.

 

Rainbow Girl (Sally Washington) Rainbow coloured instead of invisible force fields. Righteous sister who don't take no jive from the Man.

 

The Square (Ray Roquette) Big and grumpy with cobblestone-style skin. Only uncool member; big heavy framed glasses and likes wearing Hawaiian shirts. Drives trucks for a living.

 

The Human Head Shop (name escapes me, but his catchphrase is "Fume On!"). Keeper of the Cosmic Weed. Wide variety of drug powers, including flight and forcefield. How does that work? Beats me, but it's Cosmic.

 

I never did write up Doctor Jive, though I did make a version of him for DCUO with sonic powers. Pretty much a Kirby New Gods looking costume with a pimp hat and shades. Big sideburns. Caped, natch.

 

Hmm. Did I say partially goofy? Now I've put it all down I may revise that qualifier :)

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Girl Friend/Best Friend/Besty has powers to make any foe like her.

 

Maybe game that as PRE attack and/or emotional Mind Control, or super skills?

 

Could even have defensive powers (probably high DCV and DMCV) whose special effect is that enemies just can't bear to hurt her.

 

"Oh no! Star Girl's team has arrived! Quick, take out Best... er... Hot Boy. I'll take care of Best... er... Wingman!"

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Or Bea F. Eff

 

If Bea is just a DNPC that'd be enough. If she needs a hero name, maybe Girl Friend. And I'm going to HATE myself for suggesting the next one... but if the campaign tone is appropriate and she's a busty lady you could go with Bosom Buddy. (ducks)

 

Heh. Or Power Girl.

 

Hmm... Of course I could make it a couple of DC characters (Stargirl, Power Girl) meet a couple of Marvel characters (Human Torch, Falcon). That could be fun. A bit of tension in the romance.

 

I'll still need to change "Power Girl"'s name, but the personality and look is there now. The look works well, too, since I envisaged Star Girl as fairly slim.

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Girl Friend has powers to make any foe like her.

 

An empath... not bad, given that the rest of the group includes a brick, a blaster and a guy with wings (martial artist).

 

I had actually thought about something of the sort, but I was reluctant. I might reconsider.

 

The name still needs work.

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Barrier, these days :)

 

Or maybe Missile Deflection.

 

I still like the Idea of her being a PRE monster and that everyone just really, really likes her rather than mind controlling them as such. Charm and Conversation at ridiculous levels and a large number of points sunk into contacts.

 

C: Social Media Followers, 17 or less (8pts), Extremely useful skills/resources (+3), Major institution access (+1), Significant contacts of their own (+1), Slavishly Loyal (+3), Organization Contact (x3) = 48pts.

 

She might be able to shut down a fight by giving an opponent a disappointed look. Or warning them that if they keep being so mean that she'll unfriend them.

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I had a blaster back in 4th named "Kender Bender"

 

He shot Kender (kleptomaniac halflings from D&D's Dragonlance setting) as his Energy Blast (back then) special effect. 

 

When the GM feebly tried to disallow Kender as an 'energy' blast I just said they were on fire.

 

And the ones that were my RKA were flaming Kender ... with knives.

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