Miss Universe. Literally.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Hermit

I prefer the term 'Razorback'... sounds more muy macho!

And I prefer "Mixed-Chromosome Scum".

[Acroyear]

I posted my obscene high power character on the old boards... she had a COM of 150

 

For no real reason. I think mostly because it's the cheapest stat and when people start bragging about stats... when you pull out a number like 150 it's just fun.

 

For a while, she had an absorbtion to COM, too... defined as her costume got all tore up in combat. Oddly, it made her a primary target for some villains... ahem. "No, no, no. Shoot her! Shoot her!"

[Hermit]

Does anyone ever try to put advantages on COM?

I once had a shapeshifter who, just for a lark, I bought +10 Comliness with variable special effect... since he could become a blonde, etc.

 

I did something similiar with a villainess named "Temptress" she couldn't shapeshift, but since every man who gazed at her saw his 'ideal' woman, the advantage fit.

[Tom Carman]

Originally posted by Doug McCrae

Did you know she started out ugly? Like a female version of Man-Bat. She was transformed in something of a retrofit by a later writer.

Yes, she turned out to be a bit of a shapeshifter with a subconscious habit of "mirroring" the expectations of people around her.

[AlHazred]

Part of the problem with Comeliness is in the scaling. All of the non-physical stats are difficult to easily determine; yardsticks are easier to come by when it's a matter of statistics.

 

What real-world examples are there? Superheroes are celebrities in the Champions Universe; what COMs do real-world celebrities have?

 

Personally, when designing NPCs for my Golden Age campaign, I use Marilyn Monroe as a guide. By giving her a 20 COM, I allow for easier comparisons. For men, I use Clark Gable.

[MilkmanDan]

There's a running joke in our campaign that the higher the COM, the meaner the chick villain.

 

Sure, high COM is pointless and all, but it's a part of the comic world schtick.

[lemming]

Hmmm, Since I'm in the midst of designing some villians, I just might have to throw this power into the midst.

 

+10 COM, Area effect.

 

She just brighten's the room by her presence...

[Hermit]

Maybe COM with 'Does Knockback'... I mean, it's been done with PRE.

[Glen Sprigg]

Originally posted by Supreme

What I've noticed that you almost never see, in comics or games, is a female character over the age of 17 with breasts smaller than a "C" cup. Never seen it.

 

Check out Black Canary in the Giffen Justice League run; she wasn't all that well-endowed in those books, although she is just about everywhere else I've seen her...

 

Glen

[Gary]

I had a joke character once who bought all his powers based on CCV (Comeliness Combat Value). This guy was so amazingly skilled that he could hit anyone, but he secretly shrank from hitting a beauty. Of course, he'd be willing to pound on ugly people all day.

[TheEmerged]

RE: Absorption into COM, effect = costume getting torn up. I am SO stealing that

 

General. I use a scale similar to the one in GURPS. You've probably seen in person someone with a 20 COM in your life -- the same goes for someone with a -10 COM. The hottest of supermodels would be in the 24-26 range, and anything over 30 is superhuman and require a Darn Good Reason. 16-18 is the range for the "neighborhood beauty quest", the woman who "would've won the pagent if the judges had eyes".

 

10-15 is the above average range: if your office has more than 20 female employees you probably have two or three of these there.

 

8 is the "real average", with 1-5 as the "slightly ugly" range. At 0 you're ugly

 

I don't like to use real-world analogies, because that invariably leads to questions of taste and other vagueries. For example, I'd rate Pamela Anderson a 14 because of her face & eyes -- I *work* with women that look better than her, in my opinion. I'll almost guarantee that's the minority on these boards

[Susano]

Real Life 20 COM?

 

Sophia Loren.

[Acroyear]

Using the current Champions benchmarks, I think you can reasonably actually rate some media stars and models at above 30... this is because makeup, lighting experts, airbrushing, etc all contribute to creating a "look" that simply isn't normally attainable. Which means you knock it down a handful of points for the "Everyday look." We've all seen media stars in candid shots and thought... whoa, what happened? Bleah!

 

Glad you liked the costume thing, Emerged

[st barbara]

Hey "Supreme"(I think that it was you). "St Barbara" would LOVE to have a C cup ! Sex appeal and sensuality are not merely confined to the breast size, nor is comliness. Actually, now that I think about it a "C size breast" (it might be about 32 c I guess) would probably only get in "St B"'s road while she was doing her spectacular acrobatic turns and twists while fighting crime ! Now I don't know how much of this might be censored by our moderators but "St Barbara" used to work in the er less salubrious end of the modelling industry before she was 'rescued', joined the U N and eventually acquired super powers. She may be tiny (5'2'' tall, about 105 lbs) but she KNOWS how to be sexy !

[Klytus]

Originally posted by st barbara

Hey "Supreme"(I think that it was you). "St Barbara" would LOVE to have a C cup ! Sex appeal and sensuality are not merely confined to the breast size, nor is comliness. Actually, now that I think about it a "C size breast" (it might be about 32 c I guess) would probably only get in "St B"'s road while she was doing her spectacular acrobatic turns and twists while fighting crime ! Now I don't know how much of this might be censored by our moderators but "St Barbara" used to work in the er less salubrious end of the modelling industry before she was 'rescued', joined the U N and eventually acquired super powers. She may be tiny (5'2'' tall, about 105 lbs) but she KNOWS how to be sexy !

 

A lady that small with endowments like that... talk about top-heavy! (An amusing flaw from Macho Women with Guns, BTW. I'm sure it could translate very easily into Champions)

 

I once worked with a very small, slender woman with zero figure except for a rather large rack. Actually, on a normal sized woman, they would have been fine. But on her, they looked hu-normous.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by st barbara

Hey "Supreme"(I think that it was you). "St Barbara" would LOVE to have a C cup ! Sex appeal and sensuality are not merely confined to the breast size, nor is comliness...

Never said it was. My point was that in comics 99% of all adult female characters are drawn with a minimum of a "C" cup. When I draw my characters they rarely are above a "B". This is partly because of an attempt at realism, and partly because I just want to do something different.

 

See attached example.

[Yogzilla]

{posted by Doug McCrae}

He's a fantastic artist. The two double page spreads on his first issue of Avengers were awesome.

{...}

 

Couldn't agree more. (Well, maybe if I push my Agreement Power... )

 

{posted by Doug McCrae}

Are you talking about their packages? Who was bigger?

{...}

 

Can't say I recall correctly, but I do know that Kurt was always more popular with the ladies, so perhaps there's your answer.

 

-Yogzilla

[st barbara]

Sorry "Cletus". I didn't mean that "St Barbara" HAS a "c-cup" just that IF she did it would be a SMALL c-cup. My most usual description of "St B" is "5ft 2'' tall, 48 kg,short blonde hair, blue eyes and built like an Olympic gymnast" oh yes and she started the game 18 years old, but I can never remember how long we have been playing in "game time". I figure at least a year so she is about 19 or maybe 20 now. This slight buils which makes he look younger than she is can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. She had at least one adventure where she had to infiltrate a cult run by a potential world conquerer, mostly because SHE was the only team member who looked young enough(and had had acting experience) to pass herself off as a teenaged recruit to the "youth camp" that the villain was running. At other times she has had trouble convincing the (usually male) authority figures that she encounters to take her seriouslt.

[Karma]

My Female charaters

 

While I know it's traditional to draw feamle characters in Comics as 'knockouts with bib boobies' (Heck I hear that the artists on Wonderwoman used to increase her bust size by a pencil thickness every year to see how long it would take people to pick up on it) my female charatcers seem to buck the trend. Why? Heck knows, maybe I'm just a rebel.

 

Karma, for example, while being by no means homely is quite happy to be as generic as possible (and therefore hard to pick out of a line-up) while Echidna, beinmg a rip off of Penance from Gen X is kinda fairly unattractive in a 'that chicks covered in spines' kind of way (and yes she has all kinds of angst about it, but then anyone whose unattractive and teenage does).

 

The main reason for 'Comic Babes Syndrome' is that for most of the lives of comic books everyone involved from the writers to the artists to the 'collectors' were men and so the femaler characters were created to fit the 'male ideal of womanhood (i.e. Babes with bigg'uns)'. Unfortuantly this has now become traditional and a 'genre cliche' so that now its as hard to change as 'yellow spandex'.

[Vondy]

Originally posted by Hermit

Does anyone ever try to put advantages on COM?

I once had a shapeshifter who, just for a lark, I bought +10 Comliness with variable special effect... since he could become a blonde, etc.

 

I did something similiar with a villainess named "Temptress" she couldn't shapeshift, but since every man who gazed at her saw his 'ideal' woman, the advantage fit.

 

What, like NND (defense is being a gay member of the opposite sex)?

 

That way they don't apply their Presence to your presence attacks when COM is a factor:confused:

[Mayday]

So True.

 

I almost always bump my females up at least a point (12 is pretty, 14 is cute, 16 is very cute, 18 is eyecatching, 20 is an absolute vamp) but the guys invariably tag their females at 16+.

 

One game we had 3 females and 1 guy (a big strong brick). I wanted a total knockout that time and went for 20 COM with a 20 PRE, and so did they. All 3 of us. *smacks head on the table* The team chatter was.... interesting. Whenever we went anywhere invariably as each left the team plane or met the Mayor they did a COM/PRE Attack to be the ONE considered most beautiful.

 

At least the costumes were fairly tasteful although mine was a hot red fine chain mesh bodysuit with cleavage and a humongous cape for emphasis.... That was my female Magneto character, she had that Instant Change trick he had of sucking his costume on, and definately had a chest upgrade from my usual, plus long flowing blonde hair and blue eyes, no mask.