Legion of Super-Heroes Write-Ups for Champions

[Dr. Anomaly]

Okay, I've thrown together a quick-n-dirty website with my 9 completed Legionnaire write-ups on it. I'll be adding the rest over the next 2 weeks or so:

 

Legionnaire Write-Ups

 

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Criticisms?

[Lightray]

I see you've taken a compleatist view of the LSH's powers -- as typified by your Flight Rings in the Star Boy and Light Lass thread. Myself, I'd just get the basics and use the Flight Ring Operations skill you've given everyone for power stunts.

 

But: on the characters...

 

Blok: Blok also had some kind of intuition for planets or tectonics or something like that -- maybe another Power skill to represent that would be sufficient. If Blok is 100 STR and 70 PD, Superboy & Mon-El are going to be real monsters.

 

Bouncing Boy: Not my favorite character, and I don't know what period you're aiming for, but as Chuck ran the Legion Academy maybe some PS: Instructor and similar skills.

 

Brainiac 5: 60 INT! And, yet... Okay, the LS linked to FF/FW needs to be UBO and maybe Area, too. And Brainy occasionally uses his force fields offensively -- an EB slot, maybe. Brainy should have a gadget pool. And SS: Temporal Physics or something similar. KS: Legion Powers, too? Maybe some extra uses of Cramming, too.

 

Chameleon Boy: If he doesn't get to add his Noncombat Skill Levels to his Shapeshifter Tricks skill, that roll should be higher. I might've bumped up his SPD by +1.

 

Colossal Boy: I might change some of the All Combat Skill Levels to an Overall Skill Level or two.

 

Cosmic Boy: Looks good.

 

Ferro Lad: From what I remember of Ferro Lad, he wasn't able to move while he's iron? Is that inaccurate or was it later changed?

 

Matter-Eater Lad: Yay! Tenzil's my favorite. I love the names you've given to his powers.

 

Phantom Girl: Tinya frequently reaches into equipment and machinery and disables it -- RKA, Affects Physical, NND, Does BODY, No Range -- though you'd have to bump up her MP reserve.

 

Overall, I think their PRE scores are a little low -- I know you gave Reputations, but that's not going to help if they're Presence Attacked, and most of the LSH isn't impressed even by the likes of Emerald Empress and Mordru.

 

Also: I didn't see Defensive Maneuver. They should have that.

 

edit: stoopid tags.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Yeah, I'm a completist sort. In particular, one thing that *always* seems lacking in every other Champions write-up I've seen (not just for Legionnaires) is the variety of Skills. My characters are always rather Skill-intensive, and that laps over into my NPCs as well.

 

I think you've got a good point about Bouncing Boy and the Instruction skill (and Duo Damsel, Wildfire, and Karate Kid, for that matter, as they were frequently found teaching courses at the Academy). Since the Archives have been coming out, I've been meaning to go back through them and compile a really comprehensive list of skills I've seen various Legionnaires use, or heard them talk about...Sun Boy studying Law, for example, and Shrinking Violet's study of geology.

 

And by the way, Brainiac 5 does have a Temporal Physics skill...in order to format the character sheet in such a way as to make it fit on a single-sided single-page print-out, most lines have two Skills listed. They're alphabetical; take another look!

 

As for the time period I'm aiming for, I can't give you an exact issue number, but it was during the Baxter-format print run (i.e. the 3rd series done in deluxe format printing). It's aimed at the time just before Laurel Kent was revealed to be a Manhunter robot...that's kind of my "stopping point" for 'Classic' (pre-Reboot) Legion continuity as I use in my home campaign.

 

Now, on to your individual comments:

 

Blok - that feel for planetary geology and his semi-telepathic communication with other silicon-based lifeforms was only revealed well after my "stopping point", which is why I didn't include it.

 

Brainiac 5 Yes, 60 INT! My starting point for character stats was a conversion of the stats from the DC Heroes Legion supplement. After I had the basic conversion, I tweaked them when/where I felt it necessary. I don't remember off hand, but I think Brainy's INT converted directly to an INT of 60 in Champions terms. In any case, he's supposed to be so far beyond other "mere mortals" that it seems appropriate.

 

You've also got a good point about making the Life Support on his FF Belt available to others protected by the field; I'll have to add that. I don't recall offhand seeing him use the FF in an offensive (damaging) fashion, though I could easily be wrong...there's simply so much Legion history to examine! Can you by chance give me a specific example? I know there's lots of times when he's use the field to encapsulate someone or something else, and I considered adding an Entagle slot for that purpose, but realized you can do essentially the same thing with a Force Wall, so I didn't bother.

 

You're right about his needing a Knowledge of super powers; I don't know how I managed to miss that one!

 

You haven't seen my write-up for the Legion HQ yet, but that's where the Gadget Pool that Brainy usually uses is located...part of the group's equipment & supplies, rather than his own personal stuff.

 

Chameleon Boy - My understanding of "Noncombat Skills" is that it means "Anything other than Skills/Skill Levels that directly affect OCV, DCV, and ECV." So, Yes, he'd get to add his overall levels to his Shapeshifting Power Skill. And I always figured that he could use his VPP to add a point of SPD or two if the need arose.

 

Colossal Boy - Good suggestion about converting one or two of those "All Combat" levels to "Overall" levels. I'll do that.

 

Ferro Lad - He was always able to move when he was transformed into iron. You're remembering the immobility bit from Stone Boy of the Legion of Substitute Heroes. (And the Subs, along with Matter-Eater Lad and Quislet, are some of my all-time favorite characters!)

 

Phantom Girl - Tinya can't disable electronics just by passing through it...that's Kitty Pryde of the X-Men. In Tinya's case, as far as I can tell, her disabling things entails ripping out wiring, etc. and she only has her own basic strength to do that with. I didn't really see the need to add that has a seperate power, especially when the +2 Affects Physical World would have to get applied to a Killing Attack...ouch, ouch, ouch! The cost! I'll take the suggestion under advisement, though, and mull it over. Who knows? I just may decide to add it!

 

PRE Scores - I think you've also got a good point about this. In fact, it was on my list of things to add sort of "across the board" (i.e. +10 or +20 PRE, only for defending against PRE Attacks, -1) along with things like "give some Combat Luck to every member who doesn't already have some kind of Resistant Def or other ability to avoid damage (like Phantom Girl)" and I managed to space it. Grrr...but thanks for pointing it out!

 

Defense Maneuver - Another good catch. I need to add that to the Legion Basic Combat Training template (along with the basic Martial Arts maneuvers).

 

 

Superboy, Supergirl, Mon-El, and Ultra Boy are monsters, in that sense of the word. Doing the conversion from DC Heroes stats, we have the follow STR scores:

 

Superboy - 143

Mon-El - 145

Supergirl - 145

Ultra Boy - 135

Timberwolf - 110

 

The rest of their stats/powers tend to be similarly outrageous, but I think those STR scores are actually TOO LOW, if you're going by the true Silver Age comics, since a Kryptonian or Daxamite could quite literally move a planet, and for that you need a STR up around 390 or so (if I'm remembering a calculation I did once correctly). Even though I'm a stickler for detail, completeness, and authenticity, I decided to draw the line at that, and leave their STR scores "only" in the range of 140-145!

[Lightray]

I'm not going to try quoting parts -- we've filled up entire screens already with only 3 posts!

 

Re: Brainy - On second look, I see the other skills; odd, since I noticed he had Mathmatics, which was one of the second-listed skills.

 

No fair, asking for issue references! You've obviously done your homework, and all I've got is vague recollections of Brainy using his force field on occasion to knock someone senseless who'd thought his force field was purely defensive. But. That may have come in the reboot LSH, though.

 

Re: Phantom Girl - I wasn't referring to Kitty-like "phasing disrupting electronics", but rather to the times when Tinya has dismantled bombs and such by reaching inside them and messing up the works. Again, no exact issues to refer you to, but I'm certain this was classic LSH (when she was pigtails and flared sleeves/pants with cutaways on the arms and legs).

 

Anyway, I'd suggested a KA as a general "focus destruction" power, because even with Affects Real World her STR isn't going to be high enough to get past the DEF of most equipment and take it out (assumption: 9d6 offensive strikes aren't as impressive in LSH-land as they'd be in other campaigns).

 

Bugger. Now I'll probably be re-reading all my old LSH comics over vacation. If I come across any of the times I'm vaguely remembering, I'll post. (don't hold your breath waiting, though )

 

And even though you're treading on point totals where I'd fear to follow, good job!

[coach]

Very cool, thanks for posting those. I would agree with the suggestion of adding in some combat luck to the less DEF characters. It was really rare to see many of them getting badly hurt, even with huge blasts flying around. I'm also thinking that Fero Lad should have some combat levels, too, or maybe I'm misremembering. I thought he was one of the top fighters. All in all, though, very nice. Can't wait to see the others.

[Speedball]

I've never been a huge LSH fan, but I'm familiar with the characters. These look cool. I do have one question, though: I might be wrong, but isn't B5's forcefield going to last all of about a minute considering how much END it's going to use? I don't see an END battery or charges or anything that explain how a 75/75 force field is running on a guy who only has 30 END...

[Lightray]

Originally posted by Speedball

I might be wrong, but isn't B5's forcefield going to last all of about a minute considering how much END it's going to use? I don't see an END battery or charges or anything that explain how a 75/75 force field is running on a guy who only has 30 END...

psst... he's got 0 END on both of his force field belt slots.