[CHARACTER] Rook

[Killer Shrike]

Finally got around to getting the HERO Designer file from the player for this character.

 

Here is Rook; easily the most unusual PC in the current group powers-wise.....

 

 

 

Rook

 

Player: Jason Roche

 

Val	Char	Cost
15/55	STR	5
14	DEX	12
20	CON	20
15	BODY	10
10	INT	0
17	EGO	14
10	PRE	0
10	COM	0
20	PD	1
16	ED	0
4	SPD	16
10	REC	6
36	END	-2
40	STUN	7

6" RUN02" SWIM03"/11" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 89

 

Cost	Power	END
55	Force Field Powers: Elemental Control, 110-point powers
57	1) Force Limbs: (Total: 160 Active Cost, 79 Real Cost) Extra Limbs , Invisible Power Effects (Fully Invisible; +1) (10 Active Points) (Real Cost: 10) plus Stretching 6", Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (45 Active Points); No Noncombat Stretching (-1/4), No Velocity Damage (-1/4), Range Modifier Applies (-1/4), Limited Body Parts (Extra Limbs Only) (-1/4) (Real Cost: 22) plus Clinging (normal STR) (10 Active Points); Only with Extra Limbs (Power loses about a third of its effectiveness; -1/2) (Real Cost: 7) plus +40 STR, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Affects Desolidified (Any form of Desolidification; +1/2) (95 Active Points); Only with Extra Limbs (-1/2), No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) (Modifiers affect Base Characteristic) (Real Cost: 40)
37	2) Force Screen: Force Field (16 PD/12 ED/2 Flash Defense: Sight Group) (Protect Carried Items), Hardened (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Invisible Power Effects (Fully Invisible; +1) (110 Active Points); Extra Time, Only to Activate Constant or Persistent Power (Full Phase; -1/4), Delayed Phase (-1/4)
12	3) Force Dome: Force Wall (18 PD/14 ED; 5" long and 1" tall), Hardened (+1/4) (110 Active Points); Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (0 DCV; -1 1/4), Character is totally unaware of nearby events (-1/4), 1 Continuing Charges lasting 1 Turn each (-1 1/4), Self Only (-1/2), Restricted Shape (-1/4)
24	4) Force Slide: Leaping 53" (Accurate, Position Shift), Combat Acceleration/Deceleration (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (110 Active Points); Forward Movement Only (-1), No STR (-1/4)
	Extended Force Screens, all slots: Affected by adjustments tgting EC pool (Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness; -1/4)
72	1) Latent Screen: (Total: 90 Active Cost, 72 Real Cost) Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75% (Real Cost: 60) plus Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50% (Real Cost: 30)
5	2) Enviro Screen: Life Support (Extended Breathing, Longevity: 200 Years, Safe in High Radiation, Safe in Intense Cold, Safe in Intense Heat) (8 Active Points); Linked to Force Screen (-1/2), Greater Power is Constant or in use most or all of the time (+1/4)
8	3) Mind Screen: +12 Mental Defense (15 points total) (12 Active Points); Linked to Force Screen (-1/2), Greater Power is Constant or in use most or all of the time (+1/4)
7	4) Body Screen: Power Defense (10 points) (10 Active Points); Linked to Force Screen (-1/2), Greater Power is Constant or in use most or all of the time (+1/4)
5	5) Self-Traction Regeneration: Healing 1 BODY, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (20 Active Points); Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) (5 Minutes; -1 3/4), Self Only (-1/2), Piercing and Slashing Damage Only (Common SFX; -1/2) [Notes: No Healing Max (see FREd p. 120). Subconsciously seals and stabilizes wounds.]
	Unrelated Abilities
2	1) Sharp Eyes: Enhanced Perception (+1 to PER Rolls for Single Sense Group)

Powers Cost: 284

 

Cost	Martial Arts Maneuver
4	Fast Strike: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +0 DCV, STR +2d6 Strike
4	Sacrifice Lunge: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, -2 DCV, STR +v/5; FMove
5	Sacrifice Grab: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, -2 DCV, Grab 5 Limbs, Lasting Restriction

Martial Arts Cost: 13

 

Cost	Skill
10	+2 with HTH Combat
	Everyman Skills
0	1) Climbing 8-
0	2) Concealment 8-
0	3) Conversation 8-
0	4) Deduction 8-
0	5) Interrogation 8-
0	6) Paramedics 8-
0	7) Shadowing 8-
0	8) Stealth 8-
0	9) Streetwise 8-
0	10) TF: Custom Adder, Small Motorized Ground Vehicles [Notes: Custom Mod is Everyman Skill]

Skills Cost: 10

 

Cost	Perk
3	Anonymity (5 Active Points); Cannot use most bio-identification forms, Side effect occurs automatically when power is used. (-1/2)

Perks Cost: 3

 

 

 

Total Character Cost: 399

 

Val	Disadvantages
10	Paranormal: Not Concealable, Extreme Reaction, Detectable Only By Unusual Senses, Not Distinctive In Some Cultures
15	Fearless, Will risk himself without another thought: Very Common, Moderate
15	Determined to atone for his past: Common, Strong
15	Protective of innocents: Very Common, Moderate
10	Ghostly Palor, as if never been in the sunlight: Concealable, Noticed and Recognizable, Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses
10	Hunted: 8- (Occasionally), More Powerful, Watching, Extensive Non-Combat Influence
5	Money: Poor
25	Enraged: Innocent Killed/Seriously Harmed in front of him Uncommon, go 11-, recover 11-, Berserk
20	Normal Characteristic Maxima

Disadvantage Points: 125

 

Base Points: 250

Experience Required: 24

Total Experience Available: 24

Experience Unspent: 0

[Killer Shrike]

As a side note, he got bushwacked by a bunch of mercs packing mutant suppression devices (Standard Effect Drains vs any 1 Mutant Power at a time, 20 pts) and got all of his powers stripped in the 1st Phase 12 except the force limbs which had IIRC 20 points left in it. He ran like a scared little girl Its a good thing he had Power Defense or he would have been really screwed.

 

After his powers came back on line he rejoined the fight, but it was a humbling experience to be sure. Of course the other players (with 1 exception) were horrified by this and 1/2 the group ran away even though none of them had an EC from fear of the same fate; Rook is usually a mainstay, the last to fall in any fight and never down for the count for long thanks to his high defense, REC, and insane Combat Speed (he's often able to shoot completely off the mat, take a breather, and zip back on when a dramatic rescue is needed.

[JohnTaber]

Hi Killer,

 

Having the defensive EC like that shown above is really gross in my opinion. I foolishly let my players do the same thing now I am regretting it. Most of the powers in there are technically illegal as they inherently costs 0 END.

 

Yeah...regeneration with damage reduction is a gross combo. I have a PC with this combo. He can take massive attacks but a bunch of agents with autofire attacks bring him to his knees. The PC with this combo in my campaign has only a 4 PD/ED! It STILL works REALLY well.

 

I like the force limbs. Neato.

 

Just some comments...

[Talon]

Having GMed a character similar to this (but worse: add N-Ray Perception based on "feeling" objects around the character and a KA)....ew.

 

Obviously it would be helpful to see the background writeup, but in the meantime here are some purely point-based comments.

 

If the intent is to have the Extra Limbs totally Invisible, I would at least require IPE on the Stretching; if I was in a bad mood, on the STR as well.

 

I'm not sure I would give -1/2 for STR "only on Extra Limbs"...but then you do have agents with mutant-suppressors.

 

Standard "3 and 8" comments on characteristics.

 

I wouldn't give full (or maybe even any) Limitation bonus for Extra Time on the Force Field: it's 0 END, invisible, and with his Damage Reduction he's almost never going to be Stunned so it will almost never drop anyway. In other words, how often is he actually going to have it off?

 

The Regen seems a bit cheesy, but I don't have the background of the character.

[Bullseye]

I have to agree that there should be no "Only with extra limbs" limitation on the STR, since the extra limbs are in almost all ways superior to the regular limbs. About the only thing he'd lose is leaping, and since you bought so much of that with advantages, it's essentially irelevant. Also, since it's a compound power in the same slot with the extra limbs, it's going to be drained together with the extra limbs anyway, so saying "But the limbs can be drained" doesn't cut it.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by JohnTaber

Hi Killer,

 

Having the defensive EC like that shown above is really gross in my opinion. I foolishly let my players do the same thing now I am regretting it. Most of the powers in there are technically illegal as they inherently costs 0 END.

 

Force Field and Force Wall are legal in an EC, and thats why they are in one. The other Defensive Powers are not legal in an EC, and if you will look closely, you will notice that they are not in one. They are in a List, which is just an organizational tool in HERO Designer, so that you can apply common limitation to the list and they will roll down to any powers in the list; this saves time when designing and page space when printed. The Limitation on the list is that all the powers in the list are drained as if they were in the characters EC, which due to thier generally low Active Points totals is very devastating when it does happen. The character did not benefit from an EC point break on those powers.

 

Yeah...regeneration with damage reduction is a gross combo. I have a PC with this combo. He can take massive attacks but a bunch of agents with autofire attacks bring him to his knees. The PC with this combo in my campaign has only a 4 PD/ED! It STILL works REALLY well.

Well, in this case the Regeneration is 1 BODY per 5 Minutes, only vs piercing/slashing damage. The idea is that the character subconsciously completely seals puncture wound with mini Force Fields, forcing out any projectiles/foreign objects, holding the flesh together, preventing internal bleeding and allowing the body to continue functioning as normal. It doesnt help him against other sorts of damage, including impact damage and energy damage.

 

Basically, the player wanted the character to be able to face off against street level thugs and not be incapacitated by thier 45s and knives. It lets him recover fast enough from that sort of damage to not have to worry about it.

 

The character is just now breaking into the Supers scene in the past sessions since the campaign started; previously he was a street level character, fighting drug runners and protection rackets. The player doesnt want his background revealed to the other players as he wants it to develop in play, but the capsule version is that he hasnt always been on the side of the law and once used his powers for some pretty questionable acts from the Heroic perspective, until a catastrophic tragedy forced him to reevaluate his life. From a heavy Catholic Italian-American heritage, he turned to the Church and now seeks redemption. He had to leave NYC, and ended up in MC for now. His perspective is on the 'common people', the undertrodden and neglected, and he targets criminals that prey on these people. His general attitude towards 'capes' is contemptuous; he is currently involved with the party because they are tracking down supervillains that committed a crime in Rook's neighborhood and he got involved in the ensuing superbattle. He doesnt have a costume, so he wears a ski mask and whatever street clothes he happens to have on, which typically consists of a white T-shirt and some jeans or work pants and boots.

 

The characters anonymity represents the idea that his latent force screens prevent most forms of bio-identification; he doesnt leave fingerprints, hair and skin flakes dont rub off on things, he cant give a retinal scan due to the screen blocking or obfuscating scanners. Combined with his shady past wherein he avoided and was sheltered from official scrutiny, to the point that he basically has a birth certificate on file and not much else officially, he is very very difficult to get anything on. This is also why the character has all of his primary abilities bought Invisible; to further the idea of blending in and going unnoticed. His achilles heel is that he detects as a mutant, and since I run paranormal detectors similarly to Geiger Counters, based on Active Points in paranormal powers, he sets them off like a 4 alarm fire with somewhere around 600 AP in Mutant Powers. People with such a device or ability can pick him out with a quickness and would be something like

 

I like the force limbs. Neato.

 

Thanx. I originally designed an ability very like it for a TK character I was updating from 4th Ed that wanted to be able to pick up a lot of things and fly with it efficiently. That character never saw play in 5th Ed, but the player of this charcter liked the concept so much he more or less made a character around it.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Geoff Speare

If the intent is to have the Extra Limbs totally Invisible, I would at least require IPE on the Stretching; if I was in a bad mood, on the STR as well.

Hmm. Thats a head scratcher for me. To my mind, STR itself is not visible, the effects of it are. Similarly, Stretching is the ability to stretch ones limbs and also is not directly visible, its effects are in as much as the limb that is being stretched is visible as normal and is visibly elongating. To my mind a Visible Stretch would be a character whose limbs were always elongated, like some kind of a squid or were visibly Telescoped like a mechanical lifting crane. Thus, I dont see the need to apply IPE to Strength or Stretching if they are applied to limbs which are bought Invisible.

 

So for example, if a player had a character which had a 55 STR normally and Stretching and the Invisibility Power, I wouldnt make them buy IPE on the STR or Stretching if they wanted to use them while using Invisibility, or rule that the limbs became visible once extended, or anything of that sort. The fact that the limbs being stretched are themselves invisible is good enough for me.

 

 

I'm not sure I would give -1/2 for STR "only on Extra Limbs"...but then you do have agents with mutant-suppressors.

Its actually a listed Limitation for Strength bought as Power in Hero Designer at that value. So we went 'kewl-a no brainer' and clicked the box. Im not sure where the Limitation was derived from, but its in the app, the app is pretty accurate, and thats good enough for me.

 

The character is also maintaining a secret ID, and I have ruled that there is no way for him to 'fake it', to look like he is lifting something heavy using his own arms while really using the invisible limbs without it being obvious that something unusual is happening. The special effect of the power is that it is all Force Field based; when he lifts/grabs things using his power he is actually wrapping them in force effects (thus the Sacrifice Grab Immobilizing 5 Limbs, and the Force Field protects carried option--he is fully englobbing objects and people; this has been an inconvenience several times when team mates have attempted cheap shots on grabbed opponents).

 

Standard "3 and 8" comments on characteristics.

I assume you mean go for the step increments? For this character characteristics were secondary; they were filled in with points left over from building the power construct. IIRC the character originally only had around 80 pts in stats. The player has been building DEX with XP; it was originally a 10.

I wouldn't give full (or maybe even any) Limitation bonus for Extra Time on the Force Field: it's 0 END, invisible, and with his Damage Reduction he's almost never going to be Stunned so it will almost never drop anyway. In other words, how often is he actually going to have it off?

Actually? Several times, approximately at least once per super fight he has been staggered or knocked out once. He just managed to buy the 75% Reduction on the Physical, previously it was 50% so we will see if that new addition will minimize this. However, his real weakness is to Energy attacks. He only has 16 def vs Normal Energy and 12 vs Killing Energy with 50% reduction. Impressive, but not really Brick-level in a 350 to 400 point game. Since he has a low DCV, is basically landbound, and is essentially a Speedster/Brick with an odd SFX, the character is a blaster magnet.

 

The Regen seems a bit cheesy, but I don't have the background of the character.

 

Yeah, its a stretch, but heavily limited. It only works vs Piercing & Slashing damage, and is 1/5 minutes so its not a combat enhancer, it basically just keeps the character healthy between fights. The player cited an issue of the Fantastic Four where Sue Richards did something similar, using her Force Fields to hold someones wounds closed. The idea is at the subconscious level the character pushes the flesh back together and basically holds the wound perfectly closed with miniature force fields. Its come up so rarely its mostly just a flavor thing. Its a rare piercing or slashing attack that can get thru his physical defense anyway. At one point he fought 'Wulfen', a very dangerous werewolf type character, with a 4d6 AP killing attack (3d6 0 END AP claws, 30 STR); Wulfen was able to get some damage thru on above average rolls, which then got cut in half by the then 50% Dmg Reduction. So, I think Rook took 3 or 4 Body total from that and it had healed up 20 minutes later. AFAICR thats the only use he's gotten out of it so far.

 

 

Thanx for the input!

[JohnTaber]

Sorry...I read the second list as an EC.

[Killer Shrike]

Wulfen

 

Here is Wulfen, the villain mentioned previously as an FYI

 

 

 

Wulfen

 

Player:

 

Val	Char	Cost
30	STR	20
26	DEX	48
25	CON	30
25	BODY	30
13	INT	3
12	EGO	4
20	PRE	10
10	COM	0
25	PD	4
25	ED	5
6	SPD	24
10	REC	-2
60	END	5
60	STUN	7

12" RUN02" SWIM015" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 188

 

Cost	Power	END
60	Claws: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 3d6 (plus STR) (vs. PD), Armor Piercing (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (90 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)
10	Fangs: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1d6 (plus STR) (vs. PD) (15 Active Points); No Knockback (-1/4), Extra Time (Delayed Phase; -1/4)	1
76	Rapid Healing: Healing (Regeneration) 10 BODY (Can Heal Limbs), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (210 Active Points); Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12); -1 1/4), Self Only (-1/2)
10	Hard to Kill: +15 BODY (30 Active Points); Limited Power (Power loses about two-thirds of its effectiveness; -1 1/2), No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) [Notes: Only to resist Death. Counts as BODY for purposes of determining the negative amount necessary to kill him.]
12	Wulfen Muscles: Running +6" (12" total)	1
19	Wulfen Muscles: Leaping +9" (15" forward, 7 1/2" upward) (Accurate, Position Shift)	2
9	Heightened Senses: Enhanced Perception (+3 to PER Rolls for All Sense Groups)
5	Nightsight: Nightvision
20	Tracking (Smell/Taste Group; Additional Sense Group: Hearing Group)
10	Lycanthropic Curse: Transform 1d6: Person into a Wulfen (Major), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Continuous (+1), Invisible Power Effects (Fully Invisible; +1) (60 Active Points); Activation Roll 8-, Jammed (-2 1/2), No Conscious Control (-2), Linked to Fangs (-1/4)

Powers Cost: 231

 

 

Cost	Skill
18	+9 with Claws
3	Acrobatics 14-
3	Breakfall 14-
3	Climbing 14-
3	Stealth 14-
2	Survival (Temperate/Subtropical) 12-

Skills Cost: 32

 

 

Cost	Talent
30	Combat Luck: 15 PD/15 ED
15	Combat Sense 12-
4	Lightning Reflexes: +4 DEX to act first with Claws

Talents Cost: 49

 

 

Total Character Cost: 500

 

Val	Disadvantages
20	Enraged: of takes BODY damage Common, go 11-, recover 11-
20	Hunted: PRIMUS 8- (Occasionally), More Powerful, Harshly Punish, Extensive Non-Combat Influence
20	Psychological Limitation: Casual Killer Very Common, Strong
15	Psychological Limitation: Wolf Nature Common, Strong
15	Social Limitation: Secret Identity Frequently (11-), Major
20	Susceptibility: Silver 3d6 damage, Instant, Common
20	Vulnerability: 2x BODY Silver Common

Disadvantage Points: 130

 

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 170

Total Experience Available: 170

Experience Unspent: 0

 

By the way, the Jam on the Lycanthropic curse works like this:

 

In my campaign, a Wulfen is basically a variant Werewolf which is stuck in thier Hybrid Man-Wolf form all the time. Transforming into a Wulfen will apply a Package Deal to a Character. Lycanthropy can be cured by some Mages (using an appropriate Transform spell).

 

The 1st time Wulfen bites someone in an encounter, there is a 8- chance that they will be infected with the curse. If that roll is failed, there is no chance at all that they will be infected in that encounter. The Jam is person+encounter specific basically. If they are infected, each additional time Wulfen bites that person in the same encounter the same 8- chance exists to infect them a second time, which basically will just hasten the process of changing them; if the roll is failed, the infected target is still infected by previous bites but it cant get any worse than that in the same encounter. Each bite will continue to work for 2 Turns of effect (12 applications normally) unless Wulfen is killed, in which case it stops immediately. If the Transform works, there is no visible change to the victim, but the next Full Moon will see them transform into the Wulfen form and they will thereafter be stuck in it baring intervention by a Mage with an appropriate spell. Before this initial transformation, there are a number of mystical or religious rituals/treatments that will prevent the change from happening (GM discretion for story hooks basically)

 

I didnt bother applying 'Extra Time' to the Power because its too variable; the full moon could be the same day or up to 27 days away or anything in between. If fighting a Wulfen at night with a full moon its immediate as soon as the Transform takes hold. Therefore I decided to just handle it as part of the SFX and the NCC.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Bullseye

I have to agree that there should be no "Only with extra limbs" limitation on the STR, since the extra limbs are in almost all ways superior to the regular limbs. About the only thing he'd lose is leaping, and since you bought so much of that with advantages, it's essentially irelevant. Also, since it's a compound power in the same slot with the extra limbs, it's going to be drained together with the extra limbs anyway, so saying "But the limbs can be drained" doesn't cut it.

 

See above post for Extra Limbs lim.

 

As far as the Leaping, heres how that works. We cant figure out a way to get HERO Designer to represent this, but its intended for that STR to not give inches of Leaping as part of the Only with Extra Limbs limitation (you dont leap with your Arms after all, and the Extra Limbs essentially behave most like arms), so we just ignore the +8" of leap in the output as a 'glitch'; by concept the character does not have that Leaping.

 

The seperate Leaping power is also a tad unusual. The 'Forward Movement Only' limitation is interpreted as giving absolutely 0" vertical movement. It is similar to "Flight only in contact with a surface" except that it can traverse gaps. The idea is that the character creates frictionless planes of pure force that he then slides along on. He can go forward on a level surface or in midair with an incline no greater than 5 degrees, and he can go down, but never up. Thus if he climbed to the top of a 10 story building for example, he could then slide across open air to another rooftop so long as it is 10 storys tall or less or down to the ground, but not up to an 11 storys tall rooftop. Since its leaping he can only move in straight lines, and must start and end on a flat surface; he cant hover (although a non-combat leap might keep him in the air an extra Phase due to the Noncombat Multiples rules for Leaping.

 

This is where his nom de guerre comes from; he moves in perfectly straight lines at high speed. The SFX is he himself doesnt have to leap or move, he just slides around while standing still (ususally with his real hands in his pockets), like a chess piece. Same thing with the Clinging; his invisible extra limbs do all the work of pulling him up. To the naked eye he just rises upwards parallel to the surface he is climbing.

 

The PC is very nondescript, average in height in build, and doesnt wear a costume, using a ski mask to hide his features. The schtick is he basically just stands still, arms akimbo or in his pockets while sliding around the battle field grabbing and hitting things at up to 6" away. He is commonly believed to be a short-ranged Telekinetic and he more or less plays out as a Light Brick with an unusual SFX. His primary claim to fame is that he more or less has a defense against most attack forms, which makes him durable and a mainstay of any group, but his low CVs also make him the least skilled combatant in the current party and he often has trouble connecting, forcing him to have to grab a large object and start bashing things with it. A running gag was in his Secret ID he wanted to get a job in appliance section of Sears, so there would be plenty of Refridgerators around if anyone ever discovered his ID and attacked him at his work place.

 

This character was brought forward from another campaign that started at 250 and ran to about 285-290 pts in an "alternate dimension". When CU came out we decided to run a game based in the Champions Universe and mothballed that campaign. Everyone else made new characters, but the player of this character really liked this character and did not want to stop the previous campaign so that he could continue playing him. So, I took a page out of the old 'comic book alternate dimension' schtick and let him play the version of the character from the Champions Universe. He was updated to 375 for the new campaign by tacking on around 100 points, 25 of which went to buy off disadvantages which were specific to the original campaign, and viola.

[Killer Shrike]

BTW, here is the relevant quote from the FAQ on powers that are not in an EC but are affected as if they were:

 

http://www.herogames.com/SupportFAQs/rules/POWER%20FRAMEWORKS.htm

 

Q: If a character wants powers outside his EC (whether in another Power Framework or otherwise) to be affected by negative Adjustment Powers (Drains and the like) as if they were in the EC (to represent a linkage of the overall special effects of his powers), how can he buy that?

 

 

 

A: To simulate this sort of linkage, take this Limitation on all relevant powers outside the EC: Affected By Negative Adjustment Powers Used On [Name] EC (-1/4).

 

If a character wants his EC to suffer negative effects when any of the outside, related, powers suffer them, he should take the following Limitation on all such EC powers subject to the handicap: Affected By Negative Adjustment Powers Used On Any Outside Power Of [X] Special Effect (-1/4). (Feel free to define X more specifically if you want and the GM doesn’t object.)

 

If a character wants the slots in his Multipower to work like an EC in regard to the effects of Drain (or the like), he really should buy an EC instead of a Multipower. But if the GM doesn’t object, he could apply a variant of these -1/4 Limitations to make the Multipower work like an EC in regard to Drains and the like.

 

Of course, the value of these Limitations may change depending on the frequency with which Drains (and the like) are used in the campaign.

[WilyQuixote]

Hey folks,

 

I thought I'd put my two cents worth in here free of charge. I play Rook in Shrike's MC campaign and while Rook is tough to take down usually, he can and does fall in battle. He just usually recovers faster then the other players and gets right back in the fight. However all that aside the best way to describe him on the battle field is a mix of Sue Richards (AKA: Invisble woman of the Fantastic Four), Iceman of the X-Men, and Doctor Octopus of the Spider-man comics.

 

He uses the "Force-slides" like Iceman does to move around quickly, the invisble force fields like Sue Richards does, and the extra limbs like Doc Ock. Susan Richard's power set was my original inspiration for Rook and Shrike helped me build him into what he is now. Rook doesn't have as many force-field tricks as Sue Richard's but I didn't want a clone of her anyways, just someone similar. Rook does ok with the tricks he does have though .

 

He has used his actual force-fields to save his butt and those of his teammates on more then one occassion. He once used the force-dome ability to foil a henchman's plan to chuck a grenade into the room our group was in by blocking the doorless entrance with the dome. I wish I could've seen the look on the poor henchman's face when the grenade came right back to him .

 

Ok I digress, in response to the comments about the "only with extra limbs" disadvantage... a)it is in the HERO designer and since I mentioned him previously the villain Doctor Octopus probably has this same limitation. He obviously is not strong enough to pick up cars, tear through walls, and whatnot but his extra arms sure are. Being a fan/collector of Spidey since I was a kid I can recall more then one occassion when the Doctor was stripped of his arms. No more picking up cars, tearing through walls or whatnot for the good Doctor until he got those arms back.

 

As mentioned previously it does take alot to put Rook down but it's not impossible. There's martial artist villain running around MC named Wu who put Rook down with a few good flying kicks (three to be precise). Don't get me wrong now Wu knew he was in a fight after it was all said and done but my point is he can fall down like anyone else and his regeneration bit didn't do didely or squat to help him. Also any brick worth his salt would put Rook on the pain train to unconsciousness too. Grond is only ten pts above Rook but I wouldn't have a prayer of hurting or even slowing down Grond.

 

Well thats about it for me from here. If there is an interest I'll post Rook's back story soon. It hasn't come out in play yet and I want to see how the other players react when they learn of it in case their reading these boards. The group's character's haven't meshed well yet due to some personality differences but they will be resolved soon I'm sure. The group by the way consists of Chitin, Gravitic, Rook, and the old warhorse John Wrath agent of P.R.I.M.U.S.! You can read about these colorful characters on Shrike's other posts labeled for the corrosponding character. OK guys and gals I'll catchya later.

[JohnOSpencer]

Any villian with a 4d6+1 AP HKA and a massive OCV of 18 scares the poopie out of me. Do your PC's really deserve this? I mean he even has decent defenses. He seems entirely like overkill(emphasis on the KILL). He would probably slice my party into mincemeat.

 

John Spencer

[Haerandir]

I once built a whole character around that Force Limbs idea. Of course, he was a 250-pt. 4th edition character, so the extra limbs and stretching were pretty much his only schtick.

[WilyQuixote]

Hmmmmm ya know John since you pointed it out you might be right...a 4D6+1 AP HKA and a massive ocv of 18 might have sacred me at one time too. Its just the I've been playing in Shrike's campaigns now for so long I've become inured to things like 4D6+1 AP HKA's being used against me. I mean after all Shrike has thrown far worse things at the group in the past, all things considered Wulfen is pretty tame FMPOV.

 

I will say this though in Shrike's defense, unless the party really just disregards common sense and puts their foot in it anyways Shrike almost always has a way for us to defeat,avoid, or negate the encounters we come across. We just have to find the way. In this particular case with Wulfen, yes he did nearly make mince meat of some of the party members but as it happens he couldn't hurt Rook effectively and Rook was able to restrain him with his Sacrifice Grab manuever. Once this happened there wasn't a thing in the world Wulfen could do to escape from Rook and thus the threat was neutralized. That is until Rook tried picking up a tractor trailer to stop Wulfen's cohorts from escaping, when I did this Rook no longer had sufficent strength to maintain the hold and Wulfen got lose again.

 

Yeah Wulfen is probably overkill in other people's campaigns but in ours he's not really anything special to be feared, just something to keep your eye on. Now if Wulfen gets APx2 claws then yes we'll have a reason to really be scared! Until that day comes though Rook has taken to bringing a doggie leash and a pooper scooper along on any outings where we might run into Wulfen:D .

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by JohnOSpencer

Any villian with a 4d6+1 AP HKA and a massive OCV of 18 scares the poopie out of me. Do your PC's really deserve this? I mean he even has decent defenses. He seems entirely like overkill(emphasis on the KILL). He would probably slice my party into mincemeat.

 

John Spencer

 

Hehe. Well, yes, that was sort of the point.

 

Of the 3 villains the party initially encountered (Wu, a martial artist; Thunderbolt II with slight mods to his Movement; Wulfen) he was both the villain with the most points, and the most lethal by far in both categories.

 

His role in the encounter was to 1) hold up the PCs while the other to escaped with some stolen Bio-Chemicals and 2) scare the crap out of them.

 

Each of the PCs involved had at least one way to counter or deal with him, and he could only threaten them if he got the drop on one of them or if they played it stupid.

 

I also knew that between Rook and another PC Chitin, Wulfen could be neutralized.

 

The other 2 villains were at the same point level or slightly above, but thier purpose was to not sustain combat, but to evade at all costs which they did. Wulfen was basically the primary opponent and needed to be frightening enough to get the parties attention (you cant ignore someone with that high of an OCV and that big of an attack). He did this admirably, tying up Rook and John Wrath long enough for the other 2 to make distance despite Chitin doing his best to out pace and stop them.

 

In the longer term, Wulfen serves a story/plot purpose. I want to establish him as a villain that is frightening and dangerous even when alone, but which can be defeated. All in all Ive been very happy with him so far. He's basically a Sabretooth type character. When he shows up everyone is like.....uh Wolvie, take care of your Hunted please....we'll be WAY over here.

[WilyQuixote]

Nothing new to see here folks. I just went into the archives to drag this topic out into the light for Trebuchet to take a gander at if he's interested. We were discussing his Character Ranger and my character Rook.

[WilyQuixote]

Nothing new to see here folks. I just went into the archives to drag this topic out into the light for Trebuchet to take a gander at if he's interested. We were discussing his Character Ranger and my character Rook.

[Killer Shrike]

A more current version is posted here:

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3205&perpage=20&pagenumber=4#threadid=3205

 

with background and more points.