New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

[Rachel]

Swift

 

Real Name: Faith Anderson

Concept: Speedster

Hair/Eye Color: Blonde/Blue

Height/Mass: 5’9â€/160 lbs.

Nationality: American

Place of Birth: Mendocino, CA, USA

Date of Birth: October 3, 1974

 

Background Story: Faith Anderson was born in Mendocino, a city in the northern section of California, on the Pacific coast. Her parents joked that she was running before she was walking and she never stopped. The also swore that they could never keep up with her. All Faith knew was that she loved to run.

 

When she was six, she saw the Olympics for the first time and she knew she was going to compete there. She began running seriously. Every day. She let nothing stop her, short of illness making running physically impossible. Making the Olympics shaped her life in many ways. Her friends couldn’t understand the drive in her and gradually became little more than acquaintances she’d talk to at school. As she got older, she didn’t date. She had offers, but she was focussed on getting into the Olympics and couldn’t be distracted.

 

All her hard work paid off. She made the Olympic team in 1992 and earned a trip to Barcelona, Spain. It paid off even more when she won the gold in three events: the 800 meter, 1500 meter and 3000 meter runs. She didn’t win by huge margins, winning the three events by a combined 2.4 seconds. She became an instant media darling in the USA due to the combination of her three medals and her stereotypically California good looks. She made many personal appearances and was a regular guest on talk shows for several months after the Olympics.

 

She found that her desire to run and compete hadn’t been sated by her victories, so she continued to train. She was determined to better her performance in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

 

Unfortunately for her, she succeeded beyond her, or anyone else’s, wildest dreams. As the gun went off to start the 800 meter race, she launched herself from the starting blocks. Things seemed to move in slow motion around her as she ran the 800 meters in less than a second, totally shattering the world record. Testing after the race indicated she had super powers, specifically, super-speed. Faith was disqualified, the gold medal going to Svetlana Masterkova instead. The press immediately dubbed her “Swift†and fell in love with the name.

 

An immediate outcry went up to strip her of her medals won in the ’92 Olympics. Faith went into hiding while the investigation was carried out. It was determined, after looking at her medical records, that she had not possessed super-speed when she won her medals. She was allowed to keep them.

 

After exhaustive testing, doctors were unable to determine what caused her powers to manifest, but it was clear to the young woman that she’d never be able to compete in track events again. She spent several months in deep soul searching and depression, cursing the powers that caused her to have to give up her dream. It was during this time that she discovered that she needed to eat quite a bit more than she used to in order to keep herself going.

 

One day, she was going to the grocery store to pick up some more food, wearing her now customary baggy clothes, sunglasses and wide brimmed hat in order to disguise her identity, when she was almost hit by a car speeding by. A car being pursued by the police. She looked to her right and saw an old woman in the path of the fleeing vehicle. Without stopping to think about it, she took off after the car, easily catching up to and passing it. Even after several months of having super-speed, she marveled at how everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, if it seemed to be moving at all. She scooped the old woman up and deposited her safely out of harm’s way.

 

A daring plan came to mind. She caught back up to the car, feeling like she was leisurely jogging. She pulled the door open and yanked the driver out from behind the wheel. She slowed down just enough to drop him without killing him, then kicked it back up to full speed in order to move people out of the way of the erratically moving car. She found herself smiling as people would register that they were somewhere else just as she was setting them back down. She made it back to the car just in time to pull out the two remaining occupants before the car impacted with a light post.

 

For the first time in months, she felt good about herself. For the first time since her powers had manifested, she felt good about her newfound speed. She gave her statement to the police, then went home feeling good about herself and with a lot to think about.

 

It didn’t take long for the press to get hold of the story, since there were a number of reporters in town because of the Olympics scandal. Once again, Swift made the papers. Ironically, her heroic feat was reported at the same time as her exoneration for her medals in the ’92 Olympics.

 

The story drew the attention of the Global Guardians. Achilles realized that someone with the dedication to be an Olympic athlete could be an asset to the team, so he went to Mendocino to talk to Faith. He showed up as Faith was doing some serious thinking about what to do with her life and her powers. He talked with her at length about duty and obligation. He could have saved his breath. She’d all but decided to use her powers to help people even before he showed up. His arrival cemented her decision.

 

She’s been with the Guardians ever since.

 

Quote: “Don’t worry. I can get there in time.â€

 

Personality: Faith is a serious young woman with a great deal of determination and dedication. She’s generally impatient with the pace of things as a side effect of her powers. Conversely, she’s very patient when she needs to be or when it’s something she really wants. She doesn’t back down from hard work to achieve her goals. In fact, if hard work isn’t involved, she’s suspicious with the ease at which the goal was attained. She’s a very confident woman, having earned her self-confidence the old fashioned way by having her hard work lead to success. Her greatest love is still running. She misses running competitively and will generally engage in good-natured races with other speedsters.

 

Appearance: Faith is an attractive blue eyed blonde with a deceptively slender build. She’s lightly tanned due to her love of the beach. Her long hair is almost always pulled back in a ponytail. When not in costume, she generally wears clothes that are comfortable to run in. Her footwear of choice is running shoes. As Swift, she wears a sleek bodysuit of royal blue with light blue boots, gloves and belt. She doesn’t wear a mask, opting for a pair of goggles. The only other adornment on her costume is a US flag on her left breast, over her heart.

 

Powers: In the world of speedsters, Swift’s powers put her in the top 5% of her peers. The power of her near supersonic punches can drop most foes with ease. She has been known to effortlessly disarm an armed mob or disassemble a fighter jet to its component parts while the dazed pilot looked on. She has also been seen, on occasion, to act as a human cannonball, destroying everything in her path. Swift's incredible running speed causes her to compress liquid molecules with her feet, allowing her to run across water as if it was a concrete path.

[Rachel]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

I like it.

 

BTW, the american flag over the heart for her costume was an especially nice touch. Indicates how she's represented her country before in her sports career in a nice subtle way.

 

Except for the start, not much information is given on her family. Is this open ended for a reason? Does she have any siblings? How's her relationship with her mom and dad in the current day? Does her fame endanger them?

 

Thanks. Exactly the feel I was going for with the flag.

 

To be honest, I hadn't thought of any of those points. I'm still fairly new at creating superhero origin stories. lol

 

I'll have to give that some thought.

[aylwin13]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Me likee, a lot! I think I like this one almost as much as I liked Nemesis' story. Great work.

 

 

I have some villians I need backgrounds for. Do you take commissions?

[wcw43921]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

To be honest, I hadn't thought of any of those points. I'm still fairly new at creating superhero origin stories.

 

 

Could have fooled me. That's a great origin. Well done.

 

The name lacks a little "oomph" if you'll pardon my saying so. May I humbly suggest:

 

Super-Swift

Lightning Swift

Speed Star (if that isn't already taken)

Lightspeeder

 

I look forward to your next character.

[Guest rbezold]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Nice origin, nice background, nice costume. There's only one thing preventing this from becoming a truly great character. She lacks motivation.

 

So she likes to run. That's it? That's all there is to her? Her high school yearbook says 'likes to run' and that's all? Good. You can work with that.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing, but how about telling us WHY she doesn't relate to other people? Give her a DNPC that she relates to badly. Give her parent problems. Tell us a story about how she once tried to reach out to society and fell flat on her face.

 

Best yet, give her a really obnoxious rival who can consistantly beat her in velocity and then says things like 'Since you're only SECOND BEST, is there anything else you're good for ?"

 

Torture this character. She's worth it.

[Eosin]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Nice character. I think you probably modeled an Olympic athlete pretty well in terms of socilization and psychology. I would avoid the whole angsty thing but I bet she would have a rivialry with other speedsters - she would have to be a natural competetor to get where she did.

[JeffreyWKramer]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

That is a very well-written background. Well done.

 

Though sports psychology is not my area of expertise, I was once a research assistant to someone who did a lot of sports psych research. I've also worked with Olympic-level and professional athletes as therapy clients a few times over the years, and I think you did an exceptional job of catching a lot of the nuances I've seen in such folk.

 

Again, well done.

[Trebuchet]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Nicely done, Rachel. I too run a former Olympic athlete who gained superpowers related to her sport; in Zl'f's case gymnastics. And her two medals (Bronze, in her case) were also unsuccessfully challenged after she got her powers.

 

I do have one question: You list her weight at 160 lbs but describe her as slender. Even at 5' 9", 160 pounds would not be "slender." My sister Kare, who was a long distance runner in high school, is 5' 10" tall and considered herself to be getting overweight if she hit 130 pounds. (Her husband describes her as his own personal Valkyrie since she's an inch taller than he is.) Are you assuming Swift's super-powered muscles are denser than normal? Zl'f's are, which is why, at 4' 10" and despite being built like a petite 13 year old, she weighs 100 pounds instead of the more typical 82 pounds a normal girl her size would weigh. Her bones and muscles are both denser than normal to handle the strain of superspeed gymnastics.

 

PS: Oh, and incidentally, when Faith broke the world record in 1996 by running the 800 meter dash in less than 1 second she also broke the sound barrier quite handily. 800 meters per second is over Mach 2.4. Wheeee!

[Half Baked]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Great character background and story. I disagree with rbezold about her needing motivation. It is hinted at quite strongly in the story. Her first use of her superpowers to rescue the old lady made her feel good about herself after the ending of her Olympic dreams. Being a superhero fills a gap left by the void of not being an olympic competitor. It provides recognition, a focus, an adrenaline surge and the exhultation of victory. All things that competitive sport provides to participants. No real need to flesh that out.

 

There are two things that I might recommend changing. Firstly, why is she so driven to win at running. Does she want recognition? Does she need to prove she is the best? Being a successful athletic requires such dedication and focus, what drives her competitive spirit.

 

Secondly, you could move her timeline forward to the last Olympics. She has just won her gold medals, discovered her superpowers, had her medals stripped from her and become a superhero. Her appeal is ongoing and not resolved yet. It gives you and your GM the opportunity to explore the drama of the appeals process. Plenty of quite subtle plot hooks or roleplaying opportunities. For example, what would Faith do if a mysterious figure offered to help her in the appeals process if she performed a small service for him/her? It might be interesting to find out

 

Even worse, they may just help and expect to be repaid later down the line.

 

Another thought occurs, has Faith ever used performance enhancing drugs? If not, why not? If yes, was she aware of it or was her couch or someone else secretly administering them. Maybe Viper or Dr Destroyer was testing some new drugs on up and coming athletes.

 

I hope these ideas help.

[OddHat]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Yuliya Nesterenko is currently the fastest woman in the world. She's 5'8" and competed at 134 pounds. Her off-season weight goes up to 145 pounds. 160 might be fairly reasonable for a slightly taller runner who has some extra upper body muscle, but it does look like an off-season weight. Maybe she's just sick of dieting down?

[jackalope]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

That's very similiar, though not nearly so tragic, to the origin I created for one of my speedsters, Red Racer:

 

"BACKGROUND

Monica Delgato was born in a small town in Texas. She wanted nothing more than to escape, to run away. And run away she did, following a track and field scholarship to Texas State. She studied hard and got a degree in Latin American studies, with plans to enter the state department and work in foreign relations. But before she graduated, she was presented with an opportunity she could not pass down, and opportunity that would ruin, or at least derail, her entire life.

 

America wanted her for it's Olympic Track & Field Team, and she went, proud to represent her country. She won too, taking home the Gold Medal. That was '96, the same year that Brazil won the Gold in Soccer thanks to thier mutant telekinetic goalie. When the scandal broke, mutant hysteria peaked again, and testing Olympic athletes for mutation became mandatory. Monica was happy to submit to testing, she knew she had won fair and square. But the test results that came back were positive, Monica was a mutant - though her powers were latent, and had not activated. It didn't matter, the anti-mutant mobs needed scapegoats, and Monica was stripped of her medal and barred from professional racing. The media had a field day, and she was unable to find work or rest. Her life fell apart, and she ran away, this time hiding as a waitress in Seattle.

 

The media didn't look for her, they'd had their fun. Instead, it was VIPER who approached Monica, offering her something better than a life of disgrace and shame. Depressed and desperate, Monica went along with their plans to test an experimental procedure to activate her mutant factor. It was an amazing success, with Monica ironicaly developing the amazing speed powers she'd been accused of having.

 

Monica adapted the guise of Red Racer (a desert snake), and took her place in VIPER's legion of supervillians. She committed a string of daring daylight robberies before crossing paths with Captain Washington. Over the course of several battles, Washington recognized that Monica was simply hurt, desperate, and scared of VIPER - she wasn't a criminal. He convinced her that there was a better way to use her new powers, as a force for good. It was a tough sell, but the Captain's faith in human goodness is an amazing thing.

 

She turned herself into the authorities, and received a pardon in exchange for blowing the lid on a VIPER's nest. She proved herself further in the raid on that very nest. Riding the success of that opertation, Captain Washington was pushing for the formation of the Seatle Sentinals. Monica was the first to volunteer for the new team, and she serves as the team's lieutenant, playing strong arm to the Captain's lighter touch."

[casualplayer]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Really fun, well-fleshed out character. I'd like to know her personally, although she may be a little too "on" to be around for long periods of time.

 

Is anyone actually born in Mendocino? Admit it, she was born in Ft. Bragg or Ukiah. Or maybe she was bought in a gift shop in Mendo. (BTW, if you have seen Murder, She Wrote you have seen Mendocino. Agressively quaint, picturesque little burg right on the Pacific, so of course it was used to represent a town in Maine.) If she was born anywhere in that county she would be one heck of a cross country runner also.

 

I could see her having problems with teamwork as she was a solo effort runner. Athletes tend to have problems relating to non-athletes also. She could easily be portrayed as arrogant when she is primarily introverted.

 

Since she apparently has a Public ID, have you considered just calling her "Faith?" Seems appropriate, markets well and is applicable to her powers.

[Rachel]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Really fun, well-fleshed out character. I'd like to know her personally, although she may be a little too "on" to be around for long periods of time.

 

Is anyone actually born in Mendocino? Admit it, she was born in Ft. Bragg or Ukiah. Or maybe she was bought in a gift shop in Mendo. (BTW, if you have seen Murder, She Wrote you have seen Mendocino. Agressively quaint, picturesque little burg right on the Pacific, so of course it was used to represent a town in Maine.) If she was born anywhere in that county she would be one heck of a cross country runner also.

 

I could see her having problems with teamwork as she was a solo effort runner. Athletes tend to have problems relating to non-athletes also. She could easily be portrayed as arrogant when she is primarily introverted.

 

Since she apparently has a Public ID, have you considered just calling her "Faith?" Seems appropriate, markets well and is applicable to her powers.

 

Actually, when asked who she is, she answers "Faith". lol Swift is the name the press gave her and it stuck, but she doesn't care for it.

 

Thanks.

[Rachel]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Are you assuming Swift's super-powered muscles are denser than normal?

 

Pretty much, yeah.

[Rachel]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Great character background and story. I disagree with rbezold about her needing motivation. It is hinted at quite strongly in the story. Her first use of her superpowers to rescue the old lady made her feel good about herself after the ending of her Olympic dreams. Being a superhero fills a gap left by the void of not being an olympic competitor. It provides recognition, a focus, an adrenaline surge and the exhultation of victory. All things that competitive sport provides to participants. No real need to flesh that out.

 

There are two things that I might recommend changing. Firstly, why is she so driven to win at running. Does she want recognition? Does she need to prove she is the best? Being a successful athletic requires such dedication and focus, what drives her competitive spirit.

 

Secondly, you could move her timeline forward to the last Olympics. She has just won her gold medals, discovered her superpowers, had her medals stripped from her and become a superhero. Her appeal is ongoing and not resolved yet. It gives you and your GM the opportunity to explore the drama of the appeals process. Plenty of quite subtle plot hooks or roleplaying opportunities. For example, what would Faith do if a mysterious figure offered to help her in the appeals process if she performed a small service for him/her? It might be interesting to find out

 

Even worse, they may just help and expect to be repaid later down the line.

 

Another thought occurs, has Faith ever used performance enhancing drugs? If not, why not? If yes, was she aware of it or was her couch or someone else secretly administering them. Maybe Viper or Dr Destroyer was testing some new drugs on up and coming athletes.

 

I hope these ideas help.

 

Never used drugs. I wanted her to be totally "clean". It wouldn't be a fair competition if she cheated.

 

I was thinking the last Olympics, but Jack said everyone was wanting to be a new Guardian, so I put her timeline back a few years and we're handwaving her time with the team.

 

She's competitive, but not obsessively so. She wants to be the best, but can accept someone being better. It just drives her to try harder to get better. She's actually good natured about competition, now and in the past. She's always recognized that there could be someone better than her, so she doesn't let it eat her up if it happens.

 

Does that make sense?

 

I happen to agree with you about her motivations. I tortured Nemesis quite a bit in her origin story, so I wanted to get away from such a dark character/origin.

 

It would have been interesting to see a higher point version of Nemesis in the Global Guardians Universe version of the Justice League, though. Nemesis doesn't play well with others. lol

[Rachel]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Nice character. I think you probably modeled an Olympic athlete pretty well in terms of socilization and psychology. I would avoid the whole angsty thing but I bet she would have a rivialry with other speedsters - she would have to be a natural competetor to get where she did.

 

Thanks.

 

That's pretty much what I'm shooting for. I have to put together her disads and still have 52 points to spend after Jack put the basic powersets and characteristics together. That should help flesh her out a little bit.

[Rachel]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

I'd like to thank everyone for their comments and suggestions. They've given me things to think about that I hadn't thought of or helped clarify some things that I'd only been nebulous on before.

 

Further comment is welcome, of course, as the character will hopefully grow and evolve once I start playing her. You guys have a lot more experience than I do at this kind of thing, so I'm sure you'd have ideas that wouldn't occur to me.

[Guest Worldmaker]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Thanks.

 

That's pretty much what I'm shooting for. I have to put together her disads and still have 52 points to spend after Jack put the basic powersets and characteristics together. That should help flesh her out a little bit.

 

 

Attendez:

 

 

Player: Rachel Benson

 

Val Char Cost

20 STR 10

33 DEX 69

25 CON 30

12 BODY 4

13 INT 3

11 EGO 2

15 PRE 5

16 COM 3

 

28/36 PD 4

8/16 ED 3

9 SPD 17

13 REC 8

50 END 0

35 STUN 0

 

6" RUN 0

2" SWIM 0

4" LEAP 0

Characteristics Cost: 158

 

Cost Power

60 Super-Running: Multipower, 90-point reserve, (90 Active Points); all slots Only In Contact With A Surface (-1/2)

6u 1) Super-Running: Flight 40", x8 Noncombat (90 Active Points)

4u 2) Overdrive Running: Flight 15", MegaScale (1" = 100 km; +3/4), Can Be Scaled Down 1" = 1km (+1/4) (60 Active Points)

 

75 Speedster Tricks: Multipower, 75-point reserve

1u 1) Battering Ram: Hand-To-Hand Attack +6d6 (30 Active Points); Only with Move-Throughs/Move-Bys (-1), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2)

4u 2) Dizzying Spin: Drain DEX 4d6 (40 Active Points)

5u 3) Flurry of Super-Sonic Punches: Energy Blast 15d6 (75 Active Points); No Range (-1/2)

3u 4) I'll Take Those: Telekinesis (20 STR), Area Of Effect (3" Radius; +1), Selective (+1/4) (67 Active Points); Only to Disarm/Grab Objects (-1), No Range (-1/2)

1u 5) Let's Wrap This Up: Entangle 4d6, 4 DEF (40 Active Points); Defense Depends on Material Used (-1/2), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), No Range (-1/2), OIF (Appropriate Material of Opportunity; -1/2), Cannot Form Barriers (-1/4)

4u 6) Moving Attack: Hand-To-Hand Attack +6d6, Area Of Effect (12" Line; +1) (60 Active Points); Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2)

2u 7) Quicker Than The Eye Can See: Invisibility to Sight Group , Linked to Movement (+0) (20 Active Points)

4u 8) Some Disassembly Required: Dispel 16d6, any Technological Device power one at a time (+1/4) (60 Active Points); No Range (-1/2)

 

 

16 Ballistex Costume: Armor (8 PD/8 ED) (24 Active Points); OIF (Body Armor; -1/2)

10 Impact Resistance: +20 PD (20 Active Points); Only Protects Against Damage From Move-Through/Move-Bys (-1)

29 Rapid Healing: Healing 4 BODY, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (80 Active Points); Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) 1 Turn (Post-Segment 12) (-1 1/4), Self Only (-1/2)

20 Speed To Spare: +3 SPD (30 Active Points); Costs Endurance (-1/2)

Powers Cost: 244

 

 

 

Cost Perk

1 Fringe Benefit: Olympic Medal: Custom Adder

Perks Cost: 1

 

Cost Talent

30 Lightning Reflexes: +20 DEX to act first with All Actions

3 Lightning Calculator

12 Combat Luck (6 PD/6 ED)

Talents Cost: 45

 

Total Character Cost: 448

 

Base Points: 350

Experience Required: 98

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

[Christougher]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

4u 8) Some Disassembly Required: Dispel 16d6, any Technological Device power one at a time (+1/4) (60 Active Points); No Range (-1/2)

 

Okay, I know this is supposed to be a "classic" speedster shtick, but I've always had a problem believing it. Do these speedsters always carry around a fully furnished toolbox, cause I'd really like to see someone dissasemble a car down to component parts with only their bare hands...

[Christougher]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Welcome, Swift. Good character.

 

I happen to agree with you about her motivations. I tortured Nemesis quite a bit in her origin story, so I wanted to get away from such a dark character/origin.

 

It would have been interesting to see a higher point version of Nemesis in the Global Guardians Universe version of the Justice League, though. Nemesis doesn't play well with others. lol

 

Well, Raptor will try to fill that void for you.

[Guest Worldmaker]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Welcome, Swift. Good character.

 

Well, Raptor will try to fill that void for you.

 

Raptor's on a different team.

 

 

Not that there won't be the occasional crossover.

[Katherine]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Okay' date=' I know this is supposed to be a "classic" speedster shtick, but I've always had a problem believing it. Do these speedsters always carry around a fully furnished toolbox, cause I'd really like to see someone dissasemble a car down to component parts with only their bare hands...[/quote']

 

Or a tank, or a suit of powered armor or some high tech peice of alien hardware. Seems like there should be some sort of limitation to reflect that. Do you need to have some skills to reflect that? Because the only way I could take apart a car, for example, would be a with a sledgehammer.

[Blackjack]

Re: New Character Background - Opinions Welcome

 

Thanks.

 

That's pretty much what I'm shooting for. I have to put together her disads and still have 52 points to spend after Jack put the basic powersets and characteristics together. That should help flesh her out a little bit.

 

If I may also make a suggestion...

 

Unless I'm missing something, at SPD 9, her full Running velocity alone will burn 81 END per Turn - and that doesn't take into account the "Speed to Spare" power or anything else she might do in a Phase. Of course, a SPD 9 character may have lots of extra phases to Take Recoveries, but since you have some points still to spend, you may want to consider buying Reduced Endurance with her Super-Running and her more commonly used attacks.