Can I get your opinion on this character?

[RPMiller]

This isn't my character, this is a character created by someone in my son's gaming group. They are just getting started with Champions and are creating their first characters. I feel there are some real problems with this character, but I want to get your far more experienced opinion of the character. And feel free to not hold back on the problems you see. I want to try to make sure the player doesn't end up ruining the experience for themselves or for others at the table.

 

Val      Char   Cost    Roll     Notes

10        STR     0          11-       Lift 100.0kg; 2d6

15        DEX    10        12-       OCV:  3/DCV:  6

15        CON   5          12-

12        BODY 2         

16        INT     6          12-       PER Roll 12-

20        EGO    10        13-       ECV:  7 - 7

15        PRE     5          12-       PRE Attack:  3d6

 

 

4/34     PD       2          Total:  4/34 PD (0/30 rPD)

4/27     ED       2          Total:  4/27 ED (0/23 rED)

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

10        REC    6

40        END    4

40        STUN  10        Total Characteristic Cost:  131

 

Movement:     Running:         12m/24m

            Flight:  56m/896m

            Leaping:          4m/8m

            Swimming:      4m/8m

 

Cost    Powers            END

129      Psychokinesis:  Multipower, 161-point reserve,  (161 Active Points); all slots Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4)

5v        1)  PK Control:  Telekinesis (10 STR), Alternate Combat Value (uses OMCV against DCV; +0), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +1/2), Selective (+1/4) (30 Active Points); Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4)  1

10v      2)  PK Focus:  Telekinesis (40 STR), Alternate Combat Value (uses OMCV against DCV; +0) (60 Active Points); Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4) 6

6v        3)  PK Missile:  Blast 7d6, Alternate Combat Value (uses OMCV against DCV; +0), Indirect (Source Point can vary from use to use, path is from Source Point to target; +1/2) (52 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4)  5

7v        4)  PK Burst:  Blast 7d6, Alternate Combat Value (uses OMCV against DCV; +0), Autofire (3 shots; +1/4), Indirect (Source Point can vary from use to use, path is from Source Point to target; +1/2) (61 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4)      6

11v      5)  PK Barrier:  Barrier 10 PD/8 ED, 0 BODY (up to 5m long, 2m tall, and 1/2m thick), Non-Anchored, Configurable (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (67 Active Points); Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4)  3

9v        6)  PK Shell:  Resistant Protection (20 PD/15 ED) (Impermeable) (54 Active Points); Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4)

7v        7)  PK Aura:  Resistant Protection (10 PD/8 ED) (Impermeable), Usable Simultaneously (up to 8 people at once; +1) (54 Active Points); Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4), Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4)  5

6v        😎  PK Flight:  Flight 30m, x8 Noncombat (40 Active Points); Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4)            4

6v        9)  PK Communal Flight:  Flight 18m, Usable Simultaneously (up to 8 people at once; +1 1/4), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor controls the power totally (40 Active Points); Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4)  4

2v        10) PK Skate:  Flight 8m, x4 Noncombat, Rapid Noncombat Movement (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (23 Active Points); OAF (-1), Only In Contact With A Surface (-1/4), Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4)

1          Life Support  (Safe in High Pressure); Nonpersistent (-1/4), Unified Power (Psychokinesis; -1/4)

 

            Talents

5          Former Test Subject:  Resistance (+5 to roll)

 

            Skills

3          Psychokinesis:  Power 11-

3          Biology:  Science Skill 12-

4          Neurology:  Science Skill 13-

2          Skater:  TF:  Skateboarding, Skating (iceskating or rollerskating)

2          Language:  Spanish (fluent conversation)

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost:  218

Total Cost:  349

 

350+    Disadvantages

10        Distinctive Features:  Mutant (Concealable; Extreme Reaction; Detectable Only By Technology Or Major Effort)

10        Distinctive Features:  Powerful Esper; Detectable by Mental Awareness, Mind Scan, and similar (Not Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Uncommonly-Used Senses)

5          Dependent NPC:   (Brother) Frequently (Slightly Less Powerful than the PC; Useful Noncombat Position or Skills)

15        Dependent NPC:   (Mother) Frequently (Normal)

15        Dependent NPC:   (Father) Infrequently (Normal; Unaware of character's adventuring career/Secret ID)

                        Notes:  Lives out of country.

10        Psychological Complication:  Claustrophobia (Uncommon; Strong)

15        Psychological Complication:  Averse to Killing (Common; Strong)

15        Social Complication:  Public Identity Frequently, Major

20        Hunted:  CORP  Infrequently (Mo Pow; NCI; Limited Geographical Area; PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find; Harshly Punish)

10        Psychological Complication:  Vendetta Against CORP (Uncommon; Strong)

[assault]

Looks like a mixture of 5e and 6e. Is that intentional?

[RPMiller]

3 hours ago, assault said:

Looks like a mixture of 5e and 6e. Is that intentional?

Are you referring to "Disadvantages" as the title rather than "Complications"? That's just because of the Export Format that I happened to use. The character, as far as I know was all built in with a 6e template. The points were reduced to 350 and 65 because my son wanted to have a slightly lower powered group. 

[Grailknight]

It's a fairly tight concept and looks like a good character except for the gap between his attacks and defenses.

 

If 7-9 DC's is the campaign average, then his defenses are too high. If you're based on 10-12 DC's then he's tough but won't be able to hurt anyone built to withstand that. The crux is that PK Barrier and the Indirect he built into all his attacks.

[LoneWolf]

I would not put everything into the multipower.  You are not really saving points by doing it and it will slow down the game.  With the way it is setup you have to figure out wich powers are being used each time.  Most of the time the best bet is to put you attacks in a multipower and purchase the rest outside it.

 

I am also seeing a lot of unnecessary and duplicate power.  If you want to carry people just use your own flight and use TK to carry them.  Having flight and flight along surface is paying twice for the same ability. Having barrier and resistant protection UBO is basically the same thing.  A lot of GM’s are not going not going to like a character who adds extra defense to other characters, especially if they have any kind of defensive maximums. 

 

Taking unified power on a multipower is questionable.  I believe that if you do so that means any drains actually have double effect.  Both the pool and the all slots are drained at the same time.  

[RPMiller]

Great comments so far guys! Keep them coming. 

 

One of the things that I noticed is that it is really short on END. I did some rough napkin calculations and I can't imagine this character will be able to make it through 2 Turns without taking additional recoveries. Is that a fair assessment? 

[LoneWolf]

My suggestion would be to reduce the MP to 60 points and put in a 40 STR TK, a 15 STR TK with area of effect 8”, selective and fine manipulation, and a barrier 10 PD/8 ED Dismissible, Non-Anchored, Configurable.   Use ultra slots instead of variable slots to save points. Put the unified power on the MP but not the slots. Outside the MP buy 12 DEF resistant protection and 30 meter flight with x8 with unified power.   This comes to 129 points

 

You can use the TK  to do 8d6 damage so the blasts are not needed.  The auotfire blast is going to suck up your END and probably not do that much.  Use one of your TK to bring people along using your own flight instead of using UBO. 

 

With the points you save add some more slots to the MP.  Maybe a 12d6 physical blast and some missile reflections.   

 

Also bump the INT to 18 to get a 1+ on INT based rolls including perception. 

[Christopher R Taylor]

I do not think you can give things in a multipower unified power, since the multipower already has that as a part of its build and structure to begin with.

 

Also I would never, ever allow someone to have a 167-point power (which is what the multipower is)

 

And yeah it looks like a mix of 5th and 6th, unless its just the format being used for the print out.

 

Along with others, I recommend pulling several of those powers out of the Multipower and having them stand alone, and simplifying the list because there's a lot of stuff you'll never use or will very rarely use.  This feels like a character with 5 years experience, not a starting character.  This is one of my complaints with giving players 400 points to build a character with.

[DentArthurDent]

Initially, I wasn’t impressed. But as I read through it a couple of times, it feels like the player has a definite concept in mind. Yes, there are some over-lapping powers. But if the character is “wasting” some points to bring an idea to life, then .. I am all for it!

 

Personally, I like that the player is thinking about powers that help teammates. I also like that they are putting points into a PK skill.

 

Using ‘Unified Power’ on everything makes damaging the focus a bigger problem (6E p381) and makes all the powers more susceptible to Drain and Suppress (6E p397). However, this may make sense considering the character concept.

 

Three Dependents and a Hunted seem a bit much. One or two, or even all three familiy members, are likely to appear every game session. And if every player has an Infrequent Hunted, then nearly every game session would be devoted to someone’s hunter. Unless they all are hunted by CORP.

 

What’s the OIF on PK Burst and PK Missile?

[RPMiller]

1 hour ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I do not think you can give things in a multipower unified power, since the multipower already has that as a part of its build and structure to begin with.

 

Also I would never, ever allow someone to have a 167-point power (which is what the multipower is)

 

And yeah it looks like a mix of 5th and 6th, unless its just the format being used for the print out.

 

Along with others, I recommend pulling several of those powers out of the Multipower and having them stand alone, and simplifying the list because there's a lot of stuff you'll never use or will very rarely use.  This feels like a character with 5 years experience, not a starting character.  This is one of my complaints with giving players 400 points to build a character with.

I was thinking the same thing, but adding Unified Power isn't "illegal" per the book. It actually states that you can use it in an MP. But the sense is that you shouldn't unless you have a solid reason to do so.

 

I'm in agreement with you on the power. Initially the player created it as three separate MPs (offense, defense, and movement), and then after some of the issues were pointed out, he changed it to one giant MP and added all the points together.

 

It is just the format. Ignore the format. The format is a lie.

 

Also agree on the overall size and especially the point of it looking like an experienced character. And that's why my son dropped it to 350 points. Maybe he needs to drop it farther.

[RPMiller]

27 minutes ago, DentArthurDent said:

Initially, I wasn’t impressed. But as I read through it a couple of times, it feels like the player has a definite concept in mind. Yes, there are some over-lapping powers. But if the character is “wasting” some points to bring an idea to life, then .. I am all for it!

 

Personally, I like that the player is thinking about powers that help teammates. I also like that they are putting points into a PK skill.

 

Using ‘Unified Power’ on everything makes damaging the focus a bigger problem (6E p381) and makes all the powers more susceptible to Drain and Suppress (6E p397). However, this may make sense considering the character concept.

 

Three Dependents and a Hunted seem a bit much. One or two, or even all three familiy members, are likely to appear every game session. And if every player has an Infrequent Hunted, then nearly every game session would be devoted to someone’s hunter. Unless they all are hunted by CORP.

 

What’s the OIF on PK Burst and PK Missile?

Yeah, he definitely has an idea in mind for the character.

 

The problem, for me at least, is that I think he's trying to do too much to help the team.

 

Yup. The Unified Power susceptibility was pointed out a couple times to him.

 

Whoa! I hadn't seen the OIF when I was initially looking at it. Good catch! My guess is that that is objects that may be around that the character grabs and throws at the target.

[LoneWolf]

There is no need for a MP for movement or defense, all he is doing is paying more points for duplicate abilities.   When building a character think of how powers interact with each other.  There is no reason he cannot use TK while flying.  So use the TK to “grab” his teammate and move with his own flight dragging them along.  If he does that he eliminates the need to buy flight twice.  He could also form a barrier and have people stand on that instead of carrying them directly.  The most efficient way to use a multipower is usually for things requiring an attack roll and put the other stuff outside.

 

With 40 STR TK he can already do 8d6 damage so don’t bother with the blasts he has.  A higher dice physical blast would be better.  As it stands his offense is very weak and his defenses are too strong.  Missile deflection may be a better option for defending others.  And it can stop a lot more than resistant defense can. 

[RPMiller]

My son finally convinced him to rework the character and stop trying to do everything, everywhere, all at once.

 

[LoneWolf]

Having a character that can do lots of things is not a problem, but they should actually be different things.  Having multiple similar powers actually makes the character less versatile.  Each power should be able to handle a different situation.  This character has 3 attacks that do similar damage with very little difference between them.  The 40 STR TK is actually better the straight 7d6 physical blast and can do everything it can.  The autofire can hit multiple times, but I don’t see anything to improve the accuracy of the character.  That is going to result in the character spending more END and not actually hitting more. 

 

The character has no real way of damaging tougher objects.  8d6 is not going to be enough to get through heavy doors or damage most foci.  A focused telekinetic blast written up as an AP RKA would give the character that option.  Neither of TK slots has fine control so he cannot push buttons or manipulate small items. He has barrier so can envelop someone, but they can still use their foci.  An entangle would give him the option to capture opponents without harming them.  Missile deflection would allow him to block ranged attacks aimed at others. 

 

I have a telekinetic character and he is one of the most versatile characters on the team.  This character is a 3-trick pony.

[RPMiller]

3 hours ago, LoneWolf said:

I have a telekinetic character and he is one of the most versatile characters on the team.  This character is a 3-trick pony.

Would you mind sharing your character? I understand if you don't want to, but it might be good for my son's friend to see what a well-designed telekinetic looks like in Hero. Actually, the whole group would probably benefit from it. I've shared a few myself, but seeing one from someone unaffiliated with the group might show less bias and get through to them.

[LoneWolf]

The character is a lot different but I can give you the basics.  He has a 30 STR so some of the powers would not work on this character. 

 

45 points multipower
Slot 1 30 STR TK
Slot 2 6 STR TK affects porous, fine manipulation, Area of effect 4m, selective
Slot 3 +9d6 HA
Slot 4 2d6+1 (3 1/2d6 w STR) HKA, AP
Slot 5 2d6-1 RKA Indirect, Penetrating
Slot 6 1d6+1 Sever Transformation Indirect, Improved result group
Slot 7 Deflection, indirect, ½ END plus at +6
Slot 7 4d6 Healing (body)

 

He can perceive molecules and his TK works at a molecular level.   He can rearrange molecules so can turn alter an object or even create items.  That is how he heals; he fixes damage by knitting together the tissue.  I bought him special awareness with Discriminatory, Analyze, Microscopic (10,000,000) and Range for 68 points.  He is a full out scientist with and has some items he uses like a suit of armor and has a small VPP for gadgets he creates.  

 

His TK is weaker than many but can affect a lot more.  The character also has the skills to use the powers in a lot of different ways.  He has the following sciences, Biology, Chemistry, Genetics, Metallurgy, and Physics all on 14 or less.  He also has computer programing, Demolitions, Electronics, Forensic Medicine, Inventor, Lock picking, Mechanics, Paramedics and Security Systems.    

 

To do real damage he needs to get up close and into melee range, but he can still mess with things at range.  One of his most useful things to do is to stay back and deflect any ranged attacks aimed at others.   It only works vs ranged but if it works it does not matter how powerful the attack is.  It’s also great for when the villain is threatening an innocent.  The penetrating RKA is used to target foci or other objects.   The transformation and healing is used out of combat but has come in handy.  
 

[RPMiller]

Thanks for sharing!

[LoneWolf]

What I would probably recommend for the character would be something like

 

60 point  MP

Slot 1 40 STR TK

Slot 2 16 STR TK Fine manipulation, Area of effect 8M selective

12d6 Physical blast

3d6 AP RKA

6d6 DEF 6 entangle

Barrier 12 DEF  0 BODY, 14m long 4m tall ½ thickness

Deflection

 

All the slots are U so cost 6 points (except deflection which costs 2) for a total of 98 points.  Put the flight and resistant defense outside the MP.  The power are straightforward and will be easy to play.  Adding indirect to the powers could be done, but will reduce the damage.   Being able to deal appropriate damage is more important than being able to bypass some defenses. 

[Sketchpad]

My suggestion with the initial character is to look at the starting guidelines for a hero in the Champions or Hero book. The MP seems a bit high in power, but it seems that it's been resolved.

[Hugh Neilson]

Lots of good advice above.

 

Looking at some other aspects:

 

Depending on the game, a 15 DEX will likely move last.  No issue if he’s OK with that, or if this game has moved from the “average Super has 23 DEX” mindset.

 

15 CON is low.  An average 12d6 attack (assuming this is campaign standard) will be 42 stun.  Any above average energy attack will stun the character.

 

Agree that the END/REC combo will mean he runs out of steam pretty quick.  Also consider what he can do if he recovers from a light KO with, say, 3 STUN and 3 END.

 

Where are his CVs?  It looks like this is a 5e CV = 1/3 DEX/EGO sheet.  If so, 7 OCV vs physical DCV isn’t very good in a typical game.

 

On Complications, again a lot depend on campaign style, but I’d fold the DNPC into “family”. I’d also assess how his Public ID interacts with his family DNPCs – does everyone, including CORP, know who his family is?

 

I seldom see Supers without at least one Hunted, and more often they feature occasionally in major plots than show up at random every third or fourth session.  They also don’t have to engage in prolonged combat to have an impact on a session – maybe the Bad Guy in this session has some special insights about the PC’s powers or weaknesses received from CORP, for example, or gets a special device that suppresses/drains his psychic powers.

 

Unless the player expects to trade off attack, defense and movement, the MP fix is an “attacks MP”. That tradeoff is hard for an experienced player, so I’d avoid it here.

 

20 hours ago, LoneWolf said:

What I would probably recommend for the character would be something like

 

60 point  MP

Slot 1 40 STR TK

Slot 2 16 STR TK Fine manipulation, Area of effect 8M selective

12d6 Physical blast

3d6 AP RKA

6d6 DEF 6 entangle

Barrier 12 DEF  0 BODY, 14m long 4m tall ½ thickness

Deflection

 

All the slots are U so cost 6 points (except deflection which costs 2) for a total of 98 points.  Put the flight and resistant defense outside the MP.  The power are straightforward and will be easy to play.  Adding indirect to the powers could be done, but will reduce the damage.   Being able to deal appropriate damage is more important than being able to bypass some defenses. 

 

Starting from Lonewolf’s MP, and noting that all attacks will likely still have OMCV vs DCV…

 

Those all seem like good choices.  However, the attacks cost 6 END each – the character will need more END and REC, or a 75 point (minimum) MP to add some Reduced END.

 

I’d revisit the deflection. The slots are Ultra, so he can’t use anything else while it’s in use.  At 60 AP, it costs another 4 points (assuming no limitations). Toss some Skill Levels or bonus OCV (only to deflect) in there and make those deflection rolls easier.