Character concept -- The Smartest Man Alive

[Michael Hopcroft]

I have this idea for building as a superhero character for a Golden Age-style game Cogito -- the Smartest Man Alive. I'm trying to figure out what to buy for a character whose only superpower is an amazing intellect. No Mental powers -- he's just smart.

 

Naturally he would have a very high INT -- just how high is open to debate. But he would have a lot of knowledge skills, a lot of the INT-based skills, a lot of sciences and the like. And he'd have detective skills up the wazoo.

 

The problem is what would he do when he had to resort \o physical violence, as all superheroes have to do at some point? Hhe could certainly learn martial arts manuvers, but a supervillain with powers would wipe the floor with him unless he somehow managed to psoition himself to ALWAYS have the advantage.

 

I'm going to have to try to create this character sometime, but I have a feeling he would be very difficult to play properly. I may be smart myself, but am i THAT smart?

[McCoy]

Lots of levels w/ HTH, "I knew you were going to do that."

 

A Spock-like ability to put a person on the floor by knowing how to touch a critical nerve just so (HA w/ invsable power effect).

 

Gadget pool or ability to MacGyver chemical weapons and/or drugs from household items.

 

It's the Golden Age, he's smart enough to carry a gun.

[Mayday]

Read the What If posts concerning Mr Fabulous and Dr Grondicus. They sound almost perfect for your idea.

 

As an Intellect of such stature you should be like the Green Hornet. IE, your sidekick Cato will handle everything while you earnestly trade punches (and miss) with one of the bad guys until Cato has finished off the other 29 and takes him out for you.

While you offer a soliloquy Captain Kirk style on Freedom and Justice to the arch villain Cato defuses the missile launch computers, apprehends 12 random muggers while bringing the limo around, rescues 3 felines in trees, takes the limo in for an oil change, cures cancer and the hole in the ozone layer, and prepares a 7 course romantic meal for you and the beautiful kidnapped scientist's daughter you will save from the villain's dramatic exit/base implosion.

 

But youre a genius! You probably own the stock market and the US Patent Office has limited you to 10 submissions a day.

[lemming]

Originally posted by McCoy

It's the Golden Age, he's smart enough to carry a gun.

Damn you McCoy! I was working on the same post.

 

A couple extra bits: Find Weakness

[Eyendasky80]

Lots of Presence defined as being so smart you can talk somebody into just about anything. I'd make a multi-power with all of the above and call it Genius POWER.

[Mayday]

While I think you should let Cato handle the physical stuff (If you ever saw Bruce Lee as Cato, you know what I mean) I think your power set should be based around something significant, like gravity. A genius mind shouldnt concern itself with less than the structure of the very universe.... fire and lightning are so 1850's...

 

So you have armor or gadgets that include perhaps an anti grav zone for missile Deflection, flight, gliding, EB Dble KB blast Indirect as the gravity in their hex goes crazy and tosses them high into the air?

 

Neutrino (X-ray) vision goggles.

 

And you MUST have a cape.

[Richard Logue]

Classically, a character of such intellectual might could/would become a gadgeteer. And with that in mind, he could arm himself with any number of ray guns, force fields, jet packs, the possibilities are endless. He could become a powersuit wearer like Iron Man or Doctor Doom, if you like.

 

You could purchase martial maneuvers or talents that represent out thinking your opponent. Heck, you could pruchase a power or two that could represent the same sort of wit and cleverness. If I had more than a couple minutes at this point, I'd come up with a few. Perhaps tomorrow.

[Richard Logue]

Holy cow....

 

See what happens when you're trying to do other things while posting at the same time? When I saw the thread, no one had posted yet so I was writing my reply.

 

When I finally got around to hitting "post," 5 others were there already.... LoL

[proditor]

I think the gadget route is a good one to consider, just make sure you have fun with it. Have a "Gravito-inducer ray" the looks like a tesla coil with a handle that plugs into an oversized backpack battery. Have an early Kevlar/Beta cloth composite costume. It'll be slimmer than a full flak jacket, but not as sleek as modern body armor.

 

Find Weakness: ABSOLUTELY!! "I knew if I just hit him at the joint on that armor the klankenhausen mechanism would fail!" or... "That my friend, is your solar plexus. By hitting it at a 30 degree angle with the proper amount of force...well, once you are done vomiting, we'll discuss it."

[farik]

Don't forget Postcognition requires Deduction roll (maybe extra time) so you can walk into a room and tell everyone what happened based on the "evidence"

 

Also something I thought of for a John Doe (guy who knows everything) character

A ranged discriminatory "detect statistics" this allows you to avoid taking a ridiculous number of KS's instead you look at something and can easily recite all the information published on it (detail based on how well you make the roll).

You might take other discriminatory detects as well to replace Science Skills. I never really thought of a replacement for Area Knowledges except taking AK:Earth at such a high level you could make rolls for nieghborhoods with a huge penalty (like -10) and still make the roll 50% of the time.

 

my $0.02

[levi]

Let's give this a spin...

 

Dr. Pollux Carlisle

 

Val	Char	Cost
13	STR	3
11	DEX	3
13	CON	6
11	BODY	2
30	INT	30
13	EGO	6
10	PRE	0
14	COM	2
5	PD	2
5	ED	2
3	SPD	9
6	REC	0
26	END	0
25	STUN	0

6" RUN02" SWIM02 1/2" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 65

 

Cost	Power	END
30	Omni-Knowledge: Detect - Factual Data A Large Class of Things (Anything, Anyplace, Anyone) 18-, Analyze, Discriminatory, Range, Sense
9	Crime Scene Reconstruction: Retrocognitive Clairsentience (Sight Group) (40 Active Points); Retrocognition Only (-1), Fixed Perception Point - Crime Scene (-1), Requires A Deduction Roll (RSR Skill is subject to Deduction vs. Concealment contests -3/4), Time Modifiers (-1/2)	4
12	Kit-Bashing: Transform 4d6: Appropriate Materials / Ingredients into Equipment / Weapons (Minor), Improved Target Group (+1/4) (50 Active Points); OAF (-1), Extra Time Extra Phase (-3/4), Character May Take No Other Actions (-1/4), Requires An Inventor Skill Roll (-1/2), Real Equipment / Weapons Only (-1/2), Concentration 1/2 DCV (-1/4)	5

Powers Cost: 51

 

 

Cost	Skill
3	Cryptography 15-
3	Deduction 15-
3	Inventor 15-
4	+2 with INT Skills

Skills Cost: 13

 

 

Cost	Talent
16	Universal Translator 15- (20 Active Points); Terrestrial Languages Only (-1/4)
5	Eidetic Memory

Talents Cost: 21

 

 

Total Character Cost: 150

 

Val	Disadvantages
0	Normal Characteristic Maxima
10	Dependent NPC: Castor Carlisle - Twin Brother (Mid-High Ranking Law Enforcement Agent) 11- (Normal; Useful noncombat position or skills)
5	Distinctive Features: Seperation Scar on Right Hip (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)
20	Hunted: Organized Crime Family 8- (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish; Extensive Non-Combat Influence)
5	Physical Limitation: One Kidney (Infrequently; Slightly Impairing)
20	Psychological Limitation: Thirst for Knowledge (Very Common; Strong)
15	Social Limitation: Prefers the Company of Books to People (Frequently; Major)

Disadvantage Points: 75

 

Base Points: 75

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

 

Height: 5' 10" Hair: Brown

Weight: 168 lbs. Eyes: Green

 

Background: Born as a conjoined twin to his brother Castor, Pollux Carlisle has led an interesting life. In order to seperate the twins, doctors were forced to leave Pollux with only a single kidney and as such, he was viewed by his father (a former Olympic Wrestler) as the weaker of the boys. Their mother wrote guide books and was always researching various subjects, Pollux was a voracious reader and would spend hours each day doing research in his mother's study. As the boys grew up, they remained as thick as thieves and while Pollux would help Castor keep his grades up, Castor would keep the bullies away and make sure Pollux didn't spend every waking moment in the study. The boys graduated from school and while Castor began his career in Law Enforcement, Pollux wanted to experience all the things he had read about. Pollux has since travelled the world on his vast analytical, resourceful and linguistic skills and he has come to his brother's aid on more than one occasion to help solve particularly devious crimes.

[Stormraven]

I've done it... His name's Checkmate Chalis. He's a bit more focused than 'smartest man alive', his schtick is that he's the best strategist and logical thinker alive. (That makes it easier for GMs to accept him, especially the ones who believe that 'there is no best' - at least, for PCs)

 

In addition to Int, Martial Arts, etc., I gave him levels that could affect any group he's working with (tactics and strategy), Damage Classes with his martial arts (same concept as the find weakness above. His amazing intelligence is what lets him do so much damage, not the fact that he's hitting harder.), and Precognition of up to one hour in the future, defined as following chains of logic. There's more - tons of science skills, strategy-type skills, etc., but that's one way to do it.

[Ghost who Walks]

Well if he is really smart, he may just avoid a fight.

 

Buy him Dangersense, and the science "Mathematics". Claim he is able to "Predict Probabilities".

 

X-Ray goggles: He sees the thugs waiting on the other side of the door, and walks the other way.

 

You could also buy him the"World's first cellphone", able to connect to any land-line phone. (its Golden Age!) Its carried in a backpack unit, and weighs 70 pounds...

[Acroyear]

GWW... please slap a size tag on that sig and consider shortening it, as well! Ouchie.

 

When the scrap comes to the brains of the operation, the brains escape. A couple simple chemical bombs to smoke out the room while he slips out an escape route he noticed and planned when he entered the area. Give him DCV levels that require perception rolls (it's all physics and geometry, after all).

[Ghost who Walks]

Originally posted by Acroyear

GWW... please slap a size tag on that sig and consider shortening it, as well! Ouchie.

Smaller, as requested.

[Chromatic]

Hamlet Laughton in Zornwil's campaign touts himself as the world's greatest detective. His base int is 38, through gadgets, drugs and meditation it has reached as high as 138, typically it sits around 98.

 

Ironically, he is not always the smartest man in the world. The title trades off with Dr. Sihn another PC.

 

Aside from the slew of detective skills and int based knowledge skills, I've toyed with a number of powers for him.

 

Detect Lies - his keen perception and understanding of physiology and the human thought process.

 

Largish gadget pool - items he's collected and improved upon, no changing during adventures

 

overall levels -

 

Really high Tactics.

 

Cramming

 

Lightning Calculator

 

Eiditic Memory

 

Bump of Direction

 

in the untried, and denied pile:

 

Retrocognition/Precognition

Danger sense

levels UBO when he tells you what you're doing wrong and how to improve

[Chromatic]

OH yeah, aside from his Akido (with 10 strength), and a pistol, he has no damage dealing abilities. He does have the mutant power to turn people into stone, but just one at a time.

 

In a couple of years of gaming, he's fired 3 shots with a gun.

[lemming]

Originally posted by Chromatic

OH yeah, aside from his Akido (with 10 strength), and a pistol, he has no damage dealing abilities. He does have the mutant power to turn people into stone, but just one at a time.

Of course he's got that ability to turn into quite a few different forms.