"You know I've never had a character with a high..."

[Hermit]

BODY?

COM?

INT?

 

What characteristic do you find yourself ignoring or at least unconcerned about when making a new superhero/villain?

 

The reason I ask is because of something coming up in the Captain America thread. It occured to me that I didn't have anyone EVER with over a 20 BODY...barring maybe a few Growth types at maximum height.

[Chuckg]

BODY's my usual failing as well. I top out at 20, even for my usual bricks. The only character I have who's busted that max is Starguard, and that's simply because I love her so much that I don't want her ever to die. (Plus, since the conception was 'almost completely unskilled novice', I had a lot more points free than I usually do -- mostly, I prefer skill-heavy concepts, even with bricks.)

 

Then again, BODY's about the only characteristic that doesn't have a specific archetype "assigned" to it -- STR and CON for bricks, DEX for martial artists and speedsters, EGO for mentalists, PRE for natural leaders and masters of fear, etc.

[Hermit]

Mm, perhaps we should hand BODY over to the Patriot Archetype Just cuz.

 

(Actually, for the AVATAR type of Patriot, it fits... they often are tied to enduring, unchanging, and eternal forces that you can not kill)

[rayoman]

..self esteem.

 

Body too.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Hermit

Mm, perhaps we should hand BODY over to the Patriot Archetype Just cuz.

 

(Actually, for the AVATAR type of Patriot, it fits... they often are tied to enduring, unchanging, and eternal forces that you can not kill)

I tend to make "Patriot" characters tougher, with goodly amounts of BODY. Even still its hard to justify more than 20 BODY for a lot of characters.

[Hermit]

Looks like BODY is the one that most folks don't go overboard on so far.

[yamamura]

Body here too.

 

G

[Gary]

In addition to Body which rarely goes above 20, I almost never buy up Rec, End, or Stun beyond starting values. It's almost always more efficient buying up Str or Con instead.

[lemming]

Hmm, on PCs:

STR 145; DEX 53; CON 133; BODY 75; INT 33; EGO 28; PRE 40; COM 36

 

Like Gary, hardly ever buy up recovery, end or stun.

[Hermit]

This settles it... I'm making a character with a higher BODY than 20 'just cuz'

[Dr. Anomaly]

Hermit, I was just thinking the same thing. Something like this:

 

STR 20

DEX 18

CON 20

BOD 90

INT 15

EGO 25

PRE 20

PD/ED 5/5

SPD 4

REC 8

END 50

STUN 100

 

+30 CON, Only To Avoid Being Stunned (-1)

 

Regeneration (with Ressurection adder, just in case)

 

+10 levels with Dive For Cover (used to dive *into* the line of fire)

 

NO Resistant Defenses

 

A sort "basic" Martial Arts package, like Boxing

 

Basic schtick? You can hit him, and nearly always hurt him, but you CAN'T kill him, so he specializes in throwing himself in the way of Killing Attacks and such aimed at other people. The 'boxing' is how he deals with thugs, minions, and so on.

 

The high EGO is because he deals with the pain of being hit and hurt...a LOT.

 

The high PRE is because he *knows* he can take it...but can *you*?

 

If it weren't for the fact that it's already been taken, I'd be tempted to call him "The Human Target"...

[Hermit]

Call him "The Living Target" then It's close.

[Doug McCrae]

I'd have said BODY was a brick stat, if it is to be assigned to an archetype.

[Stormraven]

I've done high Strength, High Int, High Pre and middling high Com (I've never gone beyond about 24 Com)

 

I have done higher than 20 Body, but only for a brick. Highest Con I've ever done was for a brick there, too - about 38. Most often, Dex sits in the 20s.

 

So it looks much like Ego - which I've never put higher than 23 - is probably it.

[wcw43921]

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly

 

-snip-snip-

 

Basic schtick? You can hit him, and nearly always hurt him, but you CAN'T kill him, so he specializes in throwing himself in the way of Killing Attacks and such aimed at other people. The 'boxing' is how he deals with thugs, minions, and so on.

 

The high EGO is because he deals with the pain of being hit and hurt...a LOT.

 

The high PRE is because he *knows* he can take it...but can *you*?

 

If it weren't for the fact that it's already been taken, I'd be tempted to call him "The Human Target"...

 

 

Actually he sounds like Mr. Immortal, from Marvel's Great Lakes Avengers. I remember him entering the core of a nuclear reactor to stop a meltdown. His teammates find his body--

 

"Looks like death from radiation. I'd say he'll be coming around in about ten minutes."

 

As for this character--call him TARGETMAN. His emblem could be a bullseye with the words "SHOOT ME" on it.

[Intrope]

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly

Basic schtick? You can hit him, and nearly always hurt him, but you CAN'T kill him, so he specializes in throwing himself in the way of Killing Attacks and such aimed at other people.

 

...

 

If it weren't for the fact that it's already been taken, I'd be tempted to call him "The Human Target"...

 

I've actually been in a game with a character like this; he was 'The REAL man' He also had a psych lim where he had to take the hit, all the time. So he'd jump on bombs about to go off even if it wasn't needed, jump out of planes sans parachute even if there was one available, and so on.

 

I'd call this kind of character a subtype of Brick: the Slab!

[Blue]

REC

[lemming]

Originally posted by Hermit

Call him "The Living Target" then It's close.

Very much like Chromatic's character, 'Allen, the unkillable man'

 

I'll let him explain this thing, but whenever I'd GM him I'd intro him by some horrible accident. Usually at con games. Thrown out of airplanes onto church steeples, etc...

 

Once at a con where I was playing Ice Pirate, an alien with a laser sword, Allen was also being played.

One of the other PCs was making a big deal about "How do we know he's Allen?"

So IP turns to Allen and cuts his arm off.

Allen reaches down with his other arm, and puts the limb back on. Seemed to prove the point.

[Boll Weevil]

Respect the ball curve

 

I have never made a character with a COM over 15. One a related note, is there a female in the CU with a COM under 20? I understand that Champions emulates comics and comicbook females all look like hot babes in lycra but geez. Just once I'd like to see a supervillaness with a writeup that reads "Laser Lass is an average-looking woman in her early thirties with bad skin and weighs 160 pounds. This is how comicbook fans/roleplayers sterotypes are born.

[lemming]

Re: Respect the ball curve

 

Originally posted by Boll Weevil

I have never made a character with a COM over 15. One a related note, is there a female in the CU with a COM under 20?

In the Protector's Universe (Santa Cruz), we had a rule that no one could have a COM over 39. Female characters seemed to be from 24-34. We just subtracted 10 to get a more realistic #.

We also capped PRE at 35.

[McCoy]

Re: Re: Respect the ball curve

 

Originally posted by lemming

In the Protector's Universe (Santa Cruz), we had a rule that no one could have a COM over 39. Female characters seemed to be from 24-34. We just subtracted 10 to get a more realistic #.

We also capped PRE at 35.

I tend to deemphasise COM and PRE in my games. By GM fiat, PC's are never PRE attacked by the villians. PC PRE attacks can be effective on crowds, normals, and agents, but not on "name" villians.

 

So I have never created a PC with a high PRE.

[TheEmerged]

I've had several high-INT characters -- my GM-PC in the current campaign has a 40 for example.

 

One favorite one-shot we did was for everyone to build a 500-point character that could only have 1 of the 8 core abilities over 20 -- and had to spend at least 100 points on that ability score. The remainder of the points had to be spent on giving your character powers that fit having that attribute so freaking high. I did the 100 INT character, and it's amazing what you can justify with a high INT

 

As for high-PRE, one favorite NPC of my players is Carl "The Creep" Benson. He works in the old books section of of the local university -- and combines a -10 COM with a 100 PRE. Trick is 85 points of that PRE are bought No Conscious Control :-P

[Dr. Anomaly]

Preeeeesenting...

 

The Living Target

Val	Char	Cost
20	STR	10
18	DEX	24
50	CON	20
80	BODY	140
15	INT	5
25	EGO	30
20	PRE	10
18	COM	4
5	PD	1
5	ED	1
4	SPD	12
8	REC	0
40	END	0
90	STUN	-10

6" RUN02" SWIM04" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 247

 

Cost	Power	END
24	I Can Take It If You Can Dish It Out: +30 CON; Only To Avoid Being Stunned (-1), No Figured Characteristics (-1/2)
25	I Ain't Got Time To Bleed: Healing 1d6, Can Heal Limbs, Resurrection, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), -1 1/4), Self Only (-1/2)
29	Neither Rain Nor Snow Nor Deadly Radiation...: LS (Immunity All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents; Immunity All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum)

Powers Cost: 78

 

Cost	Martial Arts Maneuver
	Boxing
4	1) Martial Strike: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 6d6 Strike
5	2) Defensive Strike: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +3 DCV, 4d6 Strike
5	3) Defensive Block: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +3 DCV, Block, Abort
4	4) Martial Block: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, Block, Abort
4	5) Counterstrike: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, 6d6 Strike, Must Follow Block
4	6) Martial Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort

Martial Arts Cost: 26

 

Cost	Skill
3	Acrobatics 13-
3	Acting 13-
3	Climbing 13-
3	Combat Driving 13-
9	Contortionist 16-
3	Demolitions 12-
3	Forensic Medicine 12-
7	Interrogation 15-
3	KS: Boxing 12-
7	Power (Body Stunts) 16-
5	PS: Stuntman 16-
3	Streetwise 13-
5	Teamwork 14-
20	+10 with Dive For Cover

Skills Cost: 77

 

 

Cost	Talent
4	Double Jointed
14	Fearless
3	Simulate Death

Talents Cost: 21

 

 

Total Character Cost: 449

 

Val	Disadvantages
10	Soc: Public Identity: Jason Livingston, Crazy Stunt Man (Occasionally, Major)
15	Rep: Crazy Death-Seeking Stuntman/Hero, 14-
20	Psych: Thrillseeker (Very Common, Strong)
10	Psych: Actually enjoys pain (Common, Moderate)
20	Psych: Must Take The Hit For Innocent Bystander Or Team Mate (Common, Total)
15	Enraged: If deliberately prevented from taking the hit for an innocent, who is injured as a result (Uncommon), go 14-, recover 14-
15	Hunted: A variety of random maniacs who keep trying to find out if he's truly unkillable or not 11- (Less Pow, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Harshly Punish)
25	Hunted: Telios 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Harshly Punish)
20	DNPC: Ginger St. George, Actress/Girlfriend 11- (Incompetent)

Disadvantage Points: 150

 

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 99

Total Experience Available: 100

Experience Unspent: 1

 

History: Jason learned early on in life that while he could be hurt just like anyone else, it never lasted very long, and pain never seemed to bother him as much as it did other people. This lead to an early attempt at a boxing career, but he found it just didn't supply enough thrill for his tastes. The work of a stunt man, though, did.

 

Jason excelled at every facet of the stuntman's craft, though many of his fellows muttered that the only reason Jason was so "good" and "fast" when setting up the pyrotechnics was that he was not afraid of the consequences if he made a mistake. Jason didn't care; he was happy in his own little niche, making actors look like heroes on the silver screen.

 

That all changed the day he got to know Ginger St. George better. Jason was working on the set of The Deadliest Game when the unthinkable happened: someone made a mistake and loaded one of the macine guns with real bullets! Jason realized what was happening as soon as he saw two lines of dust puffing up...the one from the small charges buried in the ground to simulate the gunfire, and the line from the real bullets hitting the ground! Ginger was playing the part of the female co-star, who was supposed to be menaced by the gunfire; no one had expected that she would be in real danger. Jason threw himself in the way, taking a half-dozen rounds in the chest and stomach. Ginger screamed as he collapsed at her feet, covered in blood, and of course the production was immediately halted. As usual, though, Jason was not seriously hurt.

 

The investigation never did turn up who as at fault for the misloaded gun, but two other things did come of it: Ginger's undying love for Jason, and Jason's discovery of a new thrill, the best one of all: putting his life on the line in defense of others!

 

Tactics: Jason's main tactic consists of throwing himself between an agressor and their target, taking the blow himself. Anything he can do to spoil the goal of an opponent is fine with Jason, and if it gets him hurt, all the better. Jason enjoys getting down quickly from the top of a building by stepping off the edge and falling to the pavement, for example, or throwing himself on top of a live explosive round. He's always the first to offer to defuse an explosive device or disarm a trap; after all, if he makes a mistake, the only one getting hurt will be him...and the consequences never last for long.

 

Skills: In addition to the skills he learned in the stunt man trade, Jason is also pretty good at contorting his body in all kinds of outlandish ways, making it relatively simple for him to slip out of bonds or squeeze through openings that should be too small for him. This isn't due to real skill, however, but a willingness to violently dislocate joints or scrape off parts that stick out too far...after all, he'll get better, and quickly.

 

Jason also has a passing interest in forensic medicine; some of his friends believe this is a morbid curiosity that comes from having seen his own insides so often...

 

Interrogation, while not something Jason has had to resort to all that often since becoming a super-hero, is something that he's quite good at as well. He has a habit of showing gruesome implements to the person he's interrogating, then demonstrating their effects on his own body. With a vivid example in front of them, most everyone starts talking right away. They have no idea that even though he enjoys pain, Jason will do anything to keep someone else from being hurt, and would never actually use those implements on anyone else!

 

Notes: Jason gets frequent letter bombs or surprise assassination attempts by nutcases who are determined to prove that he's not actually unkillable. While generally only annoying, sometimes these idiots can threaten other people in the vicinity with their methods, and that puts blood in Jason's eye faster than just about anything else.

 

Telios has also been heard to remark that he'd like to study Jason more "closely"; rumor has it that Telios has obtained a number of samples of Jason's genetic material (he leaves it strewn everywhere, just by the nature of his approach to the super-hero trade) but that the samples either broke down abnormally fast, or they gave no clue what so ever to the nature of Jason's abilities. Jason says he doesn't take the rumors about Telios seriously, but who knows for sure?

 

Ginger is a stunningly good-looking woman, and completely and absolutely devoted to Jason. Her heart is definitely in the right place, and she is a genuinely good woman. Unfortuantely, her acting ability is sub-par at best (it's a Familiarity) and the fact that she refuses to play the "Hollywood Bedroom Game" has probably doomed her to only minor parts. She doesn't mind, though, as long as she has Jason. She knows that while Jason's very fond of her, he's not in love with her yet, but she'll wait; she's confident that, given time, he'll come to love her as much as she loves him.

[Solomon]

Under 4th edition, my 250 pts characters used to be a bit short on EGO, BODY, PRE, INT and figured characteristics.

 

Those extra 100 points sure fixed a lot of things. I'd say, though, that my maximum scores didn't change that much.

 

My bricks still have 20-25 BODY, but now even my mentalists/mages have 15 (they used to have 10-12).

My mentalists still have 23-28 EGO, but other characters now usually have at least 15 (10-11 used to be the norm).

My genius-level PCs still have INT 23-30, but now most PCs have at least INT 15.

PRE increased across the board; 20-23 is now average (used to be 15-18).

I tend to buy more figured characteristics under 5th edition. I also tend to buy lower DEX and more combat levels.

[Chromatic]

Originally posted by lemming

Very much like Chromatic's character, 'Allen, the unkillable man'

 

I'll let him explain this thing, but whenever I'd GM him I'd intro him by some horrible accident. Usually at con games. Thrown out of airplanes onto church steeples, etc...

 

Once at a con where I was playing Ice Pirate, an alien with a laser sword, Allen was also being played.

One of the other PCs was making a big deal about "How do we know he's Allen?"

So IP turns to Allen and cuts his arm off.

Allen reaches down with his other arm, and puts the limb back on. Seemed to prove the point.

 

What was really funny were the looks of shock and horror from the uninitiated players at the table.

 

Allen had 80+ body, full life support, damage reduction that only worked if he took body from the attack, and HIGH regen (4th edition he had 12 body a turn, from death that I treated as one body a segment). His defenses were such that an average attack would tend to bounce and thus not be reduced, but huge attacks were mostly ignored thanks to damage reduction and having over 100 stun. I think the record was something like 35dKA as he landed on a nice sharp spike from terminal velocity one con game. The thing was agents and thugs were his bane, and could easily take him down (well sort of, he took more stun from a 12d attack than a 30d).

 

He also had a small VPP for "mutilation" tricks (flight only in zero gravity of space as he bites off his own fingers and tosses them in the opposite direction, you know grossly cool stuff like that)

 

The other kitch with Allen was all his defenses and regen were bought with invisible effects. The special effect was he would look like a normal human who had taken that amount of body. Many a game he would be a smoking husk or skeleton running around finding weakness and smacking the bad guys with his nunchaks.

 

Allen started as a DNPC, moved to a sidekick as he earned exp, and eventually became a PC. The last writeup he had almost 500 experience.