Stretching Sourcebook?

[armadillo]

The Complete Rubberman?

 

I'm putting together a PC for a 5e game, along the lines of Plastic Man or Reed Richards, and a tiny bit of Elongated Man and his twitchy nose.

 

But my question is: Has anyone ever played an ongoing "stretchy" character? Is it worth it? Does it fit or do the other players/characters not really take it seriously?

 

And...is there anything a stretchy character could buy as a power that is thinking outside the box? Would it be enough to justify a VPP, or just a Multipower?

 

I know Stretching as a power, certainly. I can see Damage Reduction. Maybe extra Running with the long legs....Gliding perhaps....

 

Follow-up: Did you follow the "stretchy hero" trope or add One Thing to give it a twist?

 

 

 

[steriaca]

Well, there is a planned in my mind villain Bouncer. He doesn't stretch, but his body is composed of "organic rubber". His powers are basically leaping, reflection, damage reduction (kinetic impacts, electricity), hand-to-hand attack (extra kinetic velocity impact). Since stretch characters are similar to Bouncer these powers could be of use.

[Hugh Neilson]

Wasn't this part of the Ultimate Metamorph?

 

[Doc Samson]

I have played a few Stretching Metamorphs over the years. In my experience, how the other players reacted towards me was based more on my character concept than the stretching power. My last Stretching character, "Goth", was a person that could transform into a Shoggoth. None of the other players acted as if this character were comical to them.

 

In terms of character builds, Stretching is the 'other' way to use STR at Range (TK being the alternative). As such, most of my Stretching builds leaned into this and were Quick Bricks.

• I typically would have 1/2 Campaign Maximum STR (so I didn't step on the toes of true Bricks) and supplemented my damage with a Multipower that included a HA and a HKA (for automatons or inanimate objects, the Special Effect would be changing your hands in sharp or spiked objects).
• I didn't find the need for a VPP on most of my Stretching builds unless the character was also Shape Shifting Metamorph.
• As Stretching is essentially Ranged for STR, powers that use your STR, like Clinging and Extra Limbs (a Special Effect for a Stretching character could be to have long arms that can loop around multiple foes), are efficient utility powers.
• For defenses, just about any Defense Power (or even the Combat Luck Talent) are appropriate.
• For a Movement Power, I typically use Leaping with the Special Effect that I stretch to a location and pull myself there.
• In regards to having One Thing, one of my favorite Stretching characters, "Tar-Pit", had a Campaign Maximum AP Clinging Damage Shield.

As Hugh suggested, the Ultimate Metamorph for 5E is a good resource for ideas. I hope this helps.

[Opal]

Not so much as a player - one armored character had robotic tentacles, stretching was handy for melee weapons with reach - but as a GM I felt stretching came up a little short (pi) and came up with some  special maneuvers.

 

     Sling Shot:  The character with stretching must have two strong objects to hold onto (combined DEF and BOD of the two equal to his inches in stretching).  He then grabs hold and moves back half his stretching distance and releases, springing back to normal shape between the two objects.  In this way he can increase his ability to throw an object or (if he lets go) increase his leaping distance.  In either case his pts in stretching are added directly to his strength for that purpose.

     Fly Swatter:  The character can use two inches of stretching to gain a +1 OCV in HTH combat (for an attack or block maneuver) by stretching out his fists, making them wider.

     Under Wraps:  A stretching character can wrap his elongated limbs and body around a victim he wishes to immobilize.  Each inch of stretching used to 'wrap' the target adds 5pts to the stretcher's effective strength for holding on (though not for squeezing).

     Squiggle:  Conversely, the character can add his points in

 stretching to his strength to escape from grabs and many entangles, in a manner similar to the contortionist skill.

     Crack the Whip:  The character uses his elongated limbs to  strike with a whip-like motion, increasing damage.  The target must be at least 1 hex away but within half the attacker's maximum stretching distance.  Damage is increased by +1d6 per 2" of stretching the character pays endurance on.  This attack takes an extra segment to perform - like a haymaker - and reduces the attackers DCV by 2.

 

...can't say players took me up on it much, though.

 

 

Sometimes I wonder if stretching wasn't just more something artists liked to draw than a serious superpower.

[Derek Hiemforth]

(You may need to customize this to 5e, since my posts are always for 6e  )

 

I think that, especially if you go more in the vein of Plastic Man, "Stretching" becomes one of the most flexible power sets you can possibly have (pun intended, but still true).  Like "Superspeed," it's a special effect that can lend itself to almost every Power in the rulebook. I think a VPP or a Multipower is not only a distinct possibility for miscellaneous stretching tricks, but almost a necessity.

 

I played a classic stretcher named "The Elasticite" for several years as a secondary character.  He was admittedly a bit of a comic relief character, but that was because of his personality, not because people couldn't take his powers seriously.

 

Other than those already mentioned, possible powers include:

 

• Martial Arts (maneuver effects based on stretching, such as the extra STR of a Martial Grab being from wrapping around the target, extra OCV and damage from a Fast Strike being from making your fist into a big mallet, Martial Escape for slithering out of grabs, Passing Strike for a sort of bouncy move-through, etc., etc.)
• Area Effect on hand-to-hand attacks (for a really big mallet hand)
• Barrier with Feedback (forming a wall with your body) and/or opaque (englobing targets with your body)
• Clairsentience (stretching sensory organs long distances to spy on stuff)
• Clinging (forming ends of hands and feet into suction cups to scale vertical surfaces)
• Deflection (bouncing an attack away from someone else at range)
• Desolidification (with appropriate Limitations for applicable SFX like squashing down paper-thin and going under a door, etc.)
• Extra Limbs
• Growth (stretching up your whole body)
• Knockback Resistance (for largely the same reason as Damage Reduction or PD Resistant Defense: kinetic energy just sort of bounces off of you)
• Life Support (a GM might allow you to take immunity to certain types of physical harm, such as broken bones, as an Immunity)
• Mental Defense (this may not be intuitive, but obviously there's something different about your brain/nervous system if it can control your crazy stretchy form, and that difference might translate into some resistance to mental attacks)
• Mental Illusions ("What the heck is he doing? I can't believe my eyes!" ... okay, this one is a joke.  )
• No Hit Locations (I know this is normally an Automaton Power, and I know that most Champions campaigns don't use Hit Locations, but for those that do, I think many GMs -- myself included -- would let you buy this Power for a stretcher.  It just doesn't seem like it would make much difference to someone who can form his whole body into a giant rubbery ball whether you hit him in the chest or the leg.  )
• Regeneration (just closing up your malleable form over the wounds)
• Resistant Defense vs. PD: (attacks just bounce off)
• Reflection only vs. physical attacks (attacks not only bounce off, they bounce back)
• Shape Shift (malleable features to make you look like someone else)
• Shrinking (squishing down your whole body)
• Swinging (long arms going from building to building like going across an overhead ladder)

[Tjack]

   Good luck partner, stretching characters are a lot of fun, they’re classics of the genre going back to the Golden Age with Plastic Man.  Unfortunately, they can get very expensive to do, at least right off the bat, because I want them to be able to do everything at once.

   They’re such.....well “flexible” characters who can do so many different things that I never had the patience to build one from scratch as a PC.  I wait and go to town with them as NPC’s and villains. 
   Let us know how it goes for you.

[armadillo]

Many great ideas: forgot Desolidification, Shape Shift (hard to believe because I was thinking Plastic Man--would do it with a color Limitation). Martial Arts is genius...never would have thought of that.... The Fly Swatter I never considered but I love it....Tar-Pit is a great idea/power.... "Leaping with the Special Effect that I stretch to a location and pull myself there" is brilliant.

 

Noice!

[Beast]

here are 2 characters who use stretching(Blip and Precision)
both can be very effective
I think of stretching characters as short to med range sniper(they get no range mods as their attacks are considered hand to hand attack range

 

https://www.herogames.com/profile/136-beast/content/?type=downloads_file

[foolishvictor]

One of the changes between 5e and 6e is that the price of stretching was reduced significantly.  In 5e it costs 5CP per inch.  In 6e the equivalent would cost only 2CP.

 

If you build your 5e character around stretching it will not be cost effective from a power gaming perspective.  That said, stretching can be extremely versatile in dealing with all kinds of issues.  Another thing that I like about it is the concept is simple.  Everyone understands the concept of stretching.  That is not always the case for other powers.  Thus, it is fairly easy to use stretching in creative ways without really long explanations of what you want to do and how you think it might work.  All that I am trying to say is if you want to build a character that is focused on being stretchy it may not be the strongest character in terms of fighting for a given cost in CP.  In the good group of RPG enthusiasts creativity is far more important.

 

I have a 5e character that uses animated hair (extra limbs + stretching) and our game is a lot of fun.  That said, she only has a few inches of stretching and I would not describe the character as "stretchy."  She relies on martial arts for fighting which seems to be a common theme among many of the builds that others have posted.

 

Whatever you choose I hope you have fun!