New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

[Enforcer84]

Well, I don't know if anyone is interested but...just in case;

 

Since the "Weakest Character" and "Weakest Writen Chracter" threads are popular, and Doug Ramsey is the fave topic, someone want to write up what they think he should have become? Give him the age and experience of his fellow former new mutants (Cannonball, Sunspot, etc) in current continuity and what would he look like?

 

And, anyone who wants to post other "Poorly written" or "Here's what I would have done" style writeups can post them here.

[proditor]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

Cypher: His mutant ability to deconstruct and understand any language began to filter into other aspects of his life. But it really took one beer guzzling, cigar smoking, 5'3" hardcase to bring it all full circle.

 

Logan: "So, you tell me you can read any gambler and break the bank by readin' their body language?"

 

Doug: "Yes sir...it's strange, I can almost tell how they'll bet just by the most minute shifts..."

 

Logan: "And you still fight like a sissy boy..."

 

Doug blushes.

 

Logan sighs: "Look kid, ya got the tools you need to be a real asset to the team, you just don't know it. Now come on, we're going to the danger room to play bloody knuckles until you can read me well enough to not get hit..."

 

Most of the other New Mutants only knew that Doug was getting beat on pretty hard, and that when he wasn't buried in a book, he was in the gym. As the summer passed, Doug's frame began to fill out and his performance in the Danger room exercises began to amaze his classmates. It all came to a head however when a misunderstanding with an enraged Roberto DaCosta ended with the Superstrong mutant flat on his backside after a perfectly executed takedown. And for all of his solar powered strength, Bobby just couldn't get out of the lock that Doug had him in. It was almost as if each minute shift was countered as it began....

 

Powers: Cypher is a mutant with the ability to comprehend, understand and deconstruct ANY form of communication. The more alien the method, for example pheromones, the longer such understanding will take. His body has adapted to suppliment his mutant power and his senses are now almost as acute as Logan's. This ability to read the most minute shifts in body language make it almost impossible to lie to Cypher, and he has become an excellent tactician since most of the time he will have some idea of what his opponent(s) are doing almost before they can do it. This tactical acuity has been enhanced by actual training in small unit tactics under Cyclops and Cypher has slowly grown into the role of Battlefield leader.

 

Due to his ability to read body language and the shifting play of balance and muscle, Doug had the potential to become a world class fighter. He could always find an opening, or slip a blow, he just didn't have the training to back this talent. This potential has been expanded upon by an intense training regimen hoisted upon him by Logan and even at age 18, he is one of the deadliest Hand to Hand combatants on planet earth. A real world equivalent would have Doug as a 7th degree Black Belt in several forms of unarmed combat.

 

Strength: Cypher has the strength of a human being of his height, weight and build who engages in intensive daily exercise and martial training.

 

 

Game stats...basically good physicals (18-23 depending) and most of his combat powers bought as levels and lots of them, based on a power use roll. Any martial arts would be a generic form, and I'd possibly include Find Weakness for him as well. Lots of Skills and of course Universal Translator at disgusting levels.

[McCoy]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

I woulh have had Doug merge with Warlock. Doug Ramsey would have become Warlock's civilian identity, would have bought off Warlock's "unfamiliar with Earth culture" disad, and Douglock would have had all Warlock's VPP plus Cyper's limited telepathy.

[Rage]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

what was douglock?

[Mutant for Hire]

Doing Cypher

 

I'm really tired of "Douglock". To my mind one of Cypher's great weaknesses in the comics was that he was far too dependent on Warlock. He should have spent more time focusing on his own strengths.

 

The hard part is building the core of Cypher's translation power. Probably as a VPP with a list of justified powers that he's come up with.

 

If I had Cypher as a fresh, just inducted into the New Mutants type of character, I'd start spending points in parallel on his martial arts abilities on one track and a gadget pool on another track. He'd be beefing up his science skills as well, reflecting off the gadget pool. As time evolved, I'd beef up his gadget pool, give him Wealth, and increase his social skills.

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

14 Kevlar: 7/7 Armour, Obvious Inaccessible Focus

6 Survivor: 3/3 Combat Luck

20 Universal Translator: Universal Translator 17-

10 Universal Translator: +20 Intelligence, Only for Translations (-1)

5 UT Lie Detector: Detect Spoken Falsehood 17- (Hearing Group), Range

10 UT Body Language I: Detect Body Language Falsehood 17- (Sight Group), Range

10 UT Body Language II: Detect Subject's Current Emotional State 17- (Sight Group), Range

15 UT Read Symbolism: Detect Symbolic Meaning 17- (Sight Group), Range

19 UT Decipherment: Cryptography 25-

11 UT Math: SS: Mathematics (INT) 25-

15 UT Fighting: +10 Dexterity, Only for Hand to Hand Combat (-1) (CV, Initiative)

20 UT Fighting II: Combat Skill Levels : +4 with Hand to Hand Combat

===

155

 

5 STR 15

30 DEX 20

20 CON 20

4 BOD 12

8 INT 18

8 EGO 14

8 PRE 18

4 COM 18

4 PD 8

4 ED 8

10 SPD 4

0 REC 7

0 END 40

0 STN 30

===

105

 

Yes, I stole half of it from the Online USPD...

[McCoy]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

what was douglock?

My name for the Doug/Warlock symbiote. The way I thoght they should have gone with the characters.

[GTAgamemaster]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

Multiple Man.

He may not qualify as "weak" but I do believe there is some wasted potential in the character. What would you guys have done differently with the character?

 

I think with the right training and motivation, Multiple Man could be a very dangerous individual.

[McCoy]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

Multiple Man.

He may not qualify as "weak" but I do believe there is some wasted potential in the character. What would you guys have done differently with the character?

 

I think with the right training and motivation, Multiple Man could be a very dangerous individual.

In my last campagine one of the multiple men was still part of the Nasty Boys. He was captured and put in Ryker's Island, where he amused himself by never being the same number twice when the guards did a prisoner count. At one point he had an entire cell block to himselves, so he recombined back into two (one on the ground floor, the other one on the upper tier).

 

The fact that anything he wearing/holding duplicates when he does has not been fully exploited. Would like to see him in a survival situation some time, maybe shipwrecked or stranded with limied food and water. He picks up the canned goods, and a canteen, duplicates until there's a month's supplies. May get monotinous, but there's plenty of it.

 

Now remember that should work with medical supplies, weapons, ammunition, gold, jewelry, etc. Would be illegal to duplicate money (but IIRC he did create a handfull of quarters in the Fallen Angels miniseries), but his ability to duplicate gold or silver could be a Sx for the wealth perk.

 

Easiest thing to boost Jamie would be a psychic bond between the dupes, what any of them find out they all know instantly, without having to recombine. Leave one of him in a bomb shelter with internet access, and he would be the ultimate scout - infiltraitor. When he's spotted, he dupes again, one allows himself to be captured by the guards, the other goes on. No matter how many are captured, the one in the safe room provides backup.

[GTAgamemaster]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

Now that is a cool take on him McCoy.

 

I have always thought that Multiple Man could be an absolute skill monger. Make X amount of dupes and send them to class or training or whatever.... Master 10 different martial arts in the same time... (okay I realize some Martial Arts are more difficult than others)

 

His ability to do research and assimilate information would be truly Scary...as I understand it, when he recombines he gets all the memories of his individual dupes.

 

I have to admit ... I did not think that he could just duplicate anything he was holding onto... I thought his costume duplicated because it was Unstable Molecules or some such but I may be wrong.

 

I think SHIELD should have taken him and trained him and you would have SUPER AGENT KNOW IT ALL AND DO IT ALL guy. Still Normal stats and what not but with more skills than you could shake a stick at. And let's not get me started about the combat experience he could accumulate and how his various perceptions would give him insight on how to best make use of his own fighting abilitites and those of his dupes.

[McCoy]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

I have to admit ... I did not think that he could just duplicate anything he was holding onto... I thought his costume duplicated because it was Unstable Molecules or some such but I may be wrong.

Again, IIRC he used this a couple of times in Fallen Angels.

[McCoy]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

OK, let's talk Falcon.

 

A third rate superhero, so one-dimensional I couldn't even flesh out his disads.

 

He's a mutant with a limited ability to communicate with birds, a falcon friend, flight on a focus, and martial arts training from Steve Rogers (which is what elevates him from fifth rate to third rate).

 

Here's my take on him as a 250 pt character.

 

Falcon

 

Player:

 

Val	Char	Cost
18	STR	8
23	DEX	39
15	CON	10
10	BODY	0
18	INT	8
18	EGO	16
18	PRE	8
10	COM	0
4	PD	0
3	ED	0
6	SPD	27
7	REC	0
30	END	0
30	STUN	3

6" RUN02" SWIM03 1/2" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 119

 

Cost	Power	END
20	Jet Wings: Multipower, 35-point reserve, (35 Active Points); all slots OIHID (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (not underwater, in vacuum, or in narrow hallways/tunnels; -1/4)
2u	1) Flight 11", Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (33 Active Points); OIHID (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (not underwater, in vacuum, or in narrow hallways/tunnels; -1/4)	0
2u	2) Gliding 35" (35 Active Points); OIHID (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (not underwater, in vacuum, or in narrow hallways/tunnels; -1/4)	0
11	Body Armor: Armor (6 PD/3 ED) (14 Active Points); OIHID (-1/4)	0
20	Mind Control 8d6, Telepathic (+1/4) (50 Active Points); Limited Class Of Minds Birds only (-1), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2)	10

Powers Cost: 55

 

Cost	Martial Arts Maneuver
	Comic Book Martial Arts
4	1) Martial Block: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, Block, Abort
4	2) Martial Disarm: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, Disarm; 28 STR to Disarm
4	3) Martial Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort
4	4) Martial Escape: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, 33 STR vs. Grabs
3	5) Martial Grab: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab Two Limbs, 28 STR for holding on
4	6) Martial Strike: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 5 1/2d6 Strike
3	7) Martial Throw: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +1 DCV, 3 1/2d6 +v/5, Target Falls

Martial Arts Cost: 26

 

Cost	Skill
24	+8 with Martial Maneuvers
3	Acrobatics 14-
3	Breakfall 14-

Skills Cost: 30

 

Cost	Perk
20	Follower

Perks Cost: 20

 

 

 

Total Character Cost: 250

 

Val	Disadvantages
5	Distinctive Features: Detects as Mutant (Not Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable Only By Technology Or Major Effort)
20	Psychological Limitation: Code vs Killing (Very Common, Strong)
20	Psychological Limitation: Community Protector (Very Common, Strong)
20	Psychological Limitation: Must be Role Model (Very Common, Strong)
20	Psychological Limitation: Must atone for criminal past (Very Common, Strong)
5	Reputation: Reformed criminal, 8-
10	Social Limitation: Public ID (Occasionally, Major)

Disadvantage Points: 100

 

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

 

 

 

Since he came up, let's add Redwing

 

Redwing

 

Player:

 

Val	Char	Cost
10	STR	0
23	DEX	39
10	CON	0
10	BODY	0
10	INT	0
10	EGO	0
10	PRE	0
10	COM	0
2	PD	0
2	ED	0
5	SPD	17
4	REC	0
20	END	0
20	STUN	0

6" RUN02" SWIM02" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 56

 

Cost	Power	END
10	Elemental Control, 20-point powers
10	1) HKA 1d6+1 (2d6 w/STR) (20 Active Points)	2
10	2) Flight 10" (20 Active Points)	2
10	3) +10 PER with Sight Group (20 Active Points)	0

Powers Cost: 40

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Character Cost: 96

 

Val	Disadvantages
15	Distinctive Features: Falcon (Not Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)
20	Physical Limitation: mute (All the Time, Greatly Impairing)
20	Physical Limitation: limited manipulation (All the Time, Greatly Impairing)

Disadvantage Points: 55

 

Base Points: 100

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

 

 

Anyone want to fix Falcon, make him a 350 pt character?

[Mutant for Hire]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

If I had multiple man's powers I'd be holding down a dozen jobs or so, sending off a few duplicates to multiple schools getting multiple degrees in subjects, etc. Multiple Man, like a few other supers, in some ways makes a lot more sense as a mutant in business.

 

Of course a lot of supervillains you wonder why they aren't selling their gadgets to the army for lots of research funds for that matter, which gets back to the whole difference between superhero comics and science fiction.

[Guest Witch Doctor]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

As he's written, Multiple Man can only dupe to 40 dupes iirc.

Also, he's only lost one dupe but that caused intense psychological distress. He's not going to treat his dupes like they are disposable.

[Superskrull]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

OK, let's talk Falcon.

 

A third rate superhero, so one-dimensional I couldn't even flesh out his disads.

 

He's a mutant with a limited ability to communicate with birds, a falcon friend, flight on a focus, and martial arts training from Steve Rogers (which is what elevates him from fifth rate to third rate).

 

I like the write-up and all, and despite liking the character himself I agree he's basically a scrub. The only thing that confuses me is that pesky lie about him being a mutant. Sure he was attacked by a Sentinel in his limited series who claimed he was a mutant ,but that sucker was so badly damaged it got taken down by his freakin' bird flying inside it and tearing out wires. Falcon got his empathic/telepathic link with Redwing when the Red Skull used the Cosmic Cube on 'Snap' Wilson and rebuilt his personality from street punk to do-gooder while grafting a psi-link to Redwing in and leaving him as a booby-trapped potential sidekick that Captain America promptly took under his figurative wing. Clearly, he's an altered human in MSH terms, though his specific metability is only slightly above the spot-on-wall category.

[freakboy6117]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

Well the obvious things to do with falcon are to upgrade his wings maybe make theme act like shields maybe missile deflection or extra DCV and give them a sharp edge to slice through objects then add some gauntlets with bolo launchers, micro grenades or some sort of energy blast,

Finally finish the upgrade with a birdlike mask with optical upgrades.

 

 

As for red wing oh lots of fun there. How about having the poor bird have a serious accident and be repaired with cybernetic implants implanted micro missiles sonic blast remote vision capability for Falcon.

 

Alternatively how about exposing redwing to the Pym particle and growing top enormous size so he can be ridden and Pick up bad guys in huge talons etc

[proditor]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

There was that "new" version of Falcon from about 5 years ago IIRC. He had tougher armor, the flight pack was detachable and could ram people and I think he had a cable claw thing. All o fit was made by the main man of Wakanda, Black Panther. It lasted for like all of 2 issues.

 

And the mutant thing...heck, even at the time I thought "Wow, Falcon must be tanking if he's suddenly a mutant." Some other ideas though...add some HTH damage with the wings. He was used them to buffet enemies in a shoulder-block type of attack. Not sure how he keeps flying after that, but I digress.

 

Also he should have a bucket load of skills. Not counting things like a strong local reputation, there are his PRE based skills (He should have bureaucracy and streetwise at the very least) and then some KS/AK skills. Being a street hustler/drug dealer/social worker/government offical tends to leave with a lot of esoteric skills. The +8 with Martial Manuevers seems a bit high...I'd also be tempted to give his Dex a minor bump when flying as he seems much more capable in general when he has room to move. I'd suggest some levels with flight.

 

Just my 2 pence.

[McCoy]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

Falcon got his empathic/telepathic link with Redwing when the Red Skull used the Cosmic Cube on 'Snap' Wilson and rebuilt his personality from street punk to do-gooder while grafting a psi-link to Redwing in and leaving him as a booby-trapped potential sidekick that Captain America promptly took under his figurative wing.

Humm, IIRC, while explaining that particular piece of, um, retcon, Red Skull said that he strengthened the already-existing link between Falcon and Redwing.

[Enforcer84]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

You could also give Falcon a hunted by the Red Skull. Sure he should be dead by now, but the Skull is responsible for his origin, and his partnership with Cap would make Falcon a "mistake" that Skull would want to fix.

[Pegasus]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

The real challenge no one has mentioned yet: Double Header.

 

So, my first idea is to turn him into an Oracle type consultant. Two heads doing double the research? Cool. Handling two clients simultaneously? Very cool. 24 hour service as only one head sleeps at a time? Priceless. Massive potential for a fantastic super-librarian.

 

Second idea: prosthetic limbs. It takes some very specialized brain power to run Doc Ock's harness. An extra brain couldn't hurt, especially when you consider that a solid punch to the jaw is Ock's main weakness.

[devlin1]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

The real challenge no one has mentioned yet: Double Header.

Bah. Give him a spiked club, some sort of animal skin toga, and install him in a cave complex to await bands of adventurers.

[McCoy]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

You could also give Falcon a hunted by the Red Skull. Sure he should be dead by now' date=' but the Skull is responsible for his origin, and his partnership with Cap would make Falcon a "mistake" that Skull would want to fix.[/quote']

Not to mention the Red Skull's inherent raceism. Good point. Was wondering if I should include a disad about being guilty about the death of Rosco, but he seems to have gotten over it. "Hunted by Red Skull" should do it.

[Pegasus]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

Bah. Give him a spiked club' date=' some sort of animal skin toga, and install him in a cave complex to await bands of adventurers.[/quote']

 

Nah, he's way too short.

 

Unless the adventurers are all halflings or gnomes...

[dbsousa]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

Fixing Doug Ramsey.

 

Douglas awakes in a hospital ward, having vaguely remembered being shot by Dr. Animus. The robot nurses attending him do not speak as they monitor his condition. When he is well enough to walk, he is led to a room with only a speaker and a chair. He sits down and the speaker crackles. "Good morning Mr. Ramsey. Your comrades think you are dead, as I had always planned. my underling was a small sacrifice for the prize you represent. Allow me to explain why you are here. some months ago you defeated some encryption on one of my many research facilities. My cryptographers assured me that no one could break their code, but you did so as if it were a child's primer. They have payed dearly for their hubris. I have been paying some attention to you, and have felt that your full potential has been...untapped. I plan to tap it. It appears that your ability to read code is hampered only by the speed at which your eyes can take in information. My nurses plan to remove that barrier to your potential..." As the nurse-bots hold him down, and surgically prepare his eyes for removal Doug struggles futiley to escape. "Be stilll, for no man can resist the will of Victor Von Doom"...

 

5 years later, Cypher lies in a hospital bed, his eyes long ago replaced by data sockets. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Doom feeds him raw data, and Cypher sends back information. the virtual keys to the Baxter Building, Avengers Mansion, and the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters lies in Doom's hands. But Doug has been busy. As the world around him disappeared. his internal world became amazingly sensitive. Doug has compiled and correlated every piece of data known to man about the workings of the human body, and has built an operating system for it. Every cell in his body can be controlled by the code he has written into his hippocampus. One day, his heart gives out. As the Nurses remove him from the data sockets and prepare him for the defibrulator, he bolts up, grabs the paddle, and shorts out the nurse. Blind, but with a data memory of his surroundings more accurate than sight, he plugs back into the data feed. With a thought, he re-encrypts all of the codes he has given Doom, and sends a virus that spreads throughout Dooms elaborate network. He knows the dimensions of his cell by heart, and runs blindly, but with a memory map in his head far more accurate than sight. He emerges from a cellar in the middle of Mexico City. Running for hours, he collapses in an alleyway. before he drifts off, he relays the following thought to his autonomic nervous system: "run regeneration routine/ subroutine: eyes."

 

Doug Ramsey has all the world's secrets compressed in a file in his head. He has studied every martial art and combat tactic ever recorded, and has ingrained them into his muscle memory by hacking into the X Men's danger rooms. He has hacked his own body, and can generate any tissue he can imagine. He is Doug Ramsey, and he can read you like a book...

[freakboy6117]

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings"

 

for double header

give him a third arm supersize his presence and change his name to zaphod beeblebrox