Random powers?

[Maelstrom]

Re: Random powers?

 

This was' date=' incidentally, one of my own initial reactions upon first learning about Spider-Man [/quote']

 

You must have been an advanced child. When I first found out about Spiderman, all I wanted to do was swing around the house. That's when I found out about the differences in load-bearing between beams and sheetrock.

 

I never in my life, until this thread, considered it odd. Maybe because I was so young when I first saw Spidey, I just accepted it whole-heartedly, and didn't bother thinking about it too hard.

 

I still swing on ropes, now and then. People think I'm just playful, but for a few seconds, I get to be Spiderman.

[Tech]

Re: Random powers?

 

I see personal preferences being mentioned in this thread regarding unified powers and/or themes for powers. I have no problem if a player wanted to create something where the powers aren't related just as long as they have a reason for it. I think it would be easier for the player and there is certainly the cost break in an Elemental Control to consider though.

 

When CHAMPIONS first came out, one aspect of the game that seems to have been lost since then is the idea that you can create whatever powers you want, any hero you want. You are not forced in a box, albeit a huge box, to create a hero who's powers are similar in nature, i.e. Ice Powers, Fire Powers, etc. That is one of the points of an EC - you get a break in cost for similar powers. When those powers are not similar in kind, you don't get the cost break. Gasp - this means you can design a hero without a theme.

 

Using a very broad brushstroke in this next statement, it seems to be a permeating thought that any hero created must have a theme or there is no concept. Yes, it's a blanket statement but I've seen this thought so many times. Excuse me but are we forced to create heroes who's powers must match or can we be a little crazy here and there and create heroes (and villains) who's powers and/or abilities and/or skills aren't related. Let's not forget we tend to think that a name should reflect their powers..

 

Unrelated powers example: A player wants to create a hero: Rich Glass is a pro-wrestler (a real one) with 20 years of experience under his belt. While walking home, he's hit with radiation and acquires not only the power to control water but generate electricity as well. You now have a hero with wrestling, water and electric powers. Related powers? No. Interesting? Yes.

 

Unrelated name ex. A hero called Jonathan Stone gets fire powers in an explosion. Hey, his powers are a theme so cool. His name? Stone. (Whaa? You're calling him Stone when his powers are fire? Why not call him Fireblast or something?) No, he wants to be called by his name: Stone. Now you have a hero with fire powers going by the name of Stone. Does it work? You bet.

[Kirby]

Re: Random powers?

 

While I agree with what you said, I have two silly comments:

Unrelated powers example: A player wants to create a hero: Rich Glass is a pro-wrestler (a real one) with 20 years of experience under his belt. While walking home' date=' he's hit with radiation and acquires not only the power to control water but generate electricity as well. You now have a hero with wrestling, water and electric powers. Related powers? No. Interesting? Yes.[/quote']It's a wave! It's a spark! It's Hydro-Electric Pump!

 

Unrelated name ex. A hero called Jonathan Stone gets fire powers in an explosion. Hey' date=' his powers are a theme so cool. His name? Stone. (Whaa? You're calling him Stone when his powers are fire? Why not call him Fireblast or something?) No, he wants to be called by his name: Stone. Now you have a hero with fire powers going by the name of Stone. Does it work? You bet.[/quote']And he gets upset when his teammates or the media start referring to him as BrimStone.

[Kirby]

Re: Random powers?

 

You must have been an advanced child. When I first found out about Spiderman' date=' all I wanted to do was swing around the house. That's when I found out about the differences in load-bearing between beams and sheetrock.[/quote']Heh, I think it wasn't until junior high or high school that I learned they were mechanical. I had always thought they were part of the spider bite results.

[Tech]

Re: Random powers?

 

An Addendum:

 

The use of a Multipower allows various powers to be used but all the powers must use the same pool of points. They can be any power of any effect; no theme required.

 

Ex.

50 Multipower

5u 10d6 EB - Air Blast

5u +25 PD, +25 ED Forcefield - Magnetic Bubble

5u 3d6+1 RKA - Earth Spear

5u 25" Flight - Mental Flight

 

Kinda crazy powers but they're legit and allowable. Related? No. Allowable? Oh yes.

[Markdoc]

Re: Random powers?

 

He also has Samurai training.

 

and spy training

 

cheers, Mark

[transmetahuman]

Re: Random powers?

 

and spy training

 

cheers, Mark

 

Sheesh. Next we'll learn that he used to be a cowboy/test pilot/astronaut/pirate.

[Superskrull]

Re: Random powers?

 

Sheesh. Next we'll learn that he used to be a cowboy/test pilot/astronaut/pirate.

 

Well, he was a fur-trapper. He also uses a transdimensional accounting firm.

Oh, and he hung out with Ernest Hemmingway.

 

...no, really...

 

He also saved the last of the Romanov family from an evil cabal of ninjas and nazis during WWII with the aid of Captain America.

 

One wonders if he panned for gold or ran a speakeasy during Prohibition too.

[SpydirShellX]

Re: Random powers?

 

Sheesh. Next we'll learn that he used to be a cowboy/test pilot/astronaut/pirate.

 

Didn't he go around with an eyepatch for a while? Pirate right there.

[transmetahuman]

Re: Random powers?

 

His action figures could become the boy's version of the Barbie doll. Ninja Wolverine! Pirate Wolverine! Stunt Driver Wolverine! Nazi Ass-Kicking Wolverine!

 

And you just know the phrase that Talks To Me Wolverine says when you pull his string...

[Superskrull]

Re: Random powers?

 

And you just know the phrase that Talks To Me Wolverine says when you pull his string...

 

"Math is hard, bub."

[David Johnston]

Re: Random powers?

 

He also has Samurai training.

 

Wolverine's endlessly accumulating past has, I think, something to do with his plummeting popularity. You can only push a character so far before he starts looking silly, even to a comic book fan.

[Kirby]

Re: Random powers?

 

You can only push a character so far before he starts looking silly' date=' even to a comic book fan.[/quote']You mean it didn't start with his hair style?

[Maelstrom]

Re: Random powers?

 

Sheesh. Next we'll learn that he used to be a cowboy/test pilot/astronaut/pirate.

 

I hope he's not in the same bar I am. Two of us in one place might look funny.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Random powers?

 

I think Wonder Woman's magic lasso came from her creator's interest in bondage. As with most scurrilous rumor, I have no source, but will gleefully repeat it.

[Kirby]

Re: Random powers?

 

Sheesh. Next we'll learn that he used to be a cowboy/test pilot/astronaut/pirate.

I hope he's not in the same bar I am. Two of us in one place might look funny.

Hmm, sounds like more than one person has been fudging their rolls to get the 98-00 "Reroll TWICE and keep both professions" on the "Random Background Table."

[jkwleisemann]

Re: Random powers?

 

His action figures could become the boy's version of the Barbie doll.

Great.

 

Now I've got my head filled with images of Wolverine traipsing through malls with his girlfriends, picking up frilly dresses and shopping for shoes.

 

X-23 or no X-23, Wolverine makes a lousy tranny.

 

Back on subject... well, I've already commented on everything before, really. Personally, I kinda like Wolverine's expanding background, it's a nice touch for somebody who's effectively immortal... but, then, I haven't actually been reading the comics for the past decade+....

[Zeropoint]

Re: Random powers?

 

I once created a character who had minor cold powers, which he didn't discover until he learned to focus his chi through advanced martial arts.

 

He's an ice ninja.

 

COMPLETELY unrelated powers, but I like they way they work together.

[watson]

Re: Random powers?

 

There's actually a comic book trope that can tie together wildly disparate powers with a single special effect (given that you have a broader view of the definition of a "special effect") - the combination character.

 

Examples from comics include:

The Super-Adaptoid

Rogue

Mimic

The Super-Skrull

Amazo

 

All of the above characters have odd combinations of powers - in the case of Mimic and The Super-Skrull, both have the powers of an entire team of heroes! This concept is what I consider to be a broad "special effect" category all its own, really, given that the Super-Skrull himself is a rather iconic character, supported by Rogue's Ms. Marvel abilities and more recently Amazo in the animated Justice League.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Random powers?

 

There's actually a comic book trope that can tie together wildly disparate powers with a single special effect (given that you have a broader view of the definition of a "special effect") - the combination character.

 

Examples from comics include:

The Super-Adaptoid

Rogue

Mimic

The Super-Skrull

Amazo

 

All of the above characters have odd combinations of powers - in the case of Mimic and The Super-Skrull, both have the powers of an entire team of heroes!

 

All but Rogue have "the powers of an entire super-team" as their own SFX. Those powers don't seem random to me. Rogue has "the powers of Ms. Marvel", so her powers are as random (or not) as Ms. Marvel's.

 

This concept is what I consider to be a broad "special effect" category all its own' date=' really, given that the Super-Skrull himself is a rather iconic character, supported by Rogue's Ms. Marvel abilities and more recently Amazo in the animated Justice League.[/quote']

 

Actually, Amazo would be the predecessor character, as he first apeared in the second or third Justice League of America story back in The Brave & The Bold. Super-Skrull came a bit later in about FF #28, Mimic in X-Men #19, and Super-Adaptoid was, I think the last, first apearing in Cap's strip in Tales of Suspense. There's not a lot of time between them - certainly less than five years.

[Kirby]

Re: Random powers?

 

There's actually a comic book trope that can tie together wildly disparate powers with a single special effect (given that you have a broader view of the definition of a "special effect") - the combination character.

 

Examples from comics include:

The Super-Adaptoid

Rogue

Mimic

The Super-Skrull

Amazo

 

All of the above characters have odd combinations of powers - in the case of Mimic and The Super-Skrull, both have the powers of an entire team of heroes! This concept is what I consider to be a broad "special effect" category all its own, really, given that the Super-Skrull himself is a rather iconic character, supported by Rogue's Ms. Marvel abilities and more recently Amazo in the animated Justice League.

Also, DC had B.I.O.N. who appeared at least in Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 4 #26 (February 1992): "Battered by B.I.O.N." if not sooner. (Sorry, but I have yet to find a source to show what his name stood for. I even wrote in to DC one time when they re/pre-Introduced B.I.O.N. and didn't give his name. They answered it in the fan mail section, but I don't believe I have that issue any more.)

 

Oh, and there was a robot/construct/thingy in the Justice League when Maxwell Lord manipulated the League into getting Booster Gold in. (Had three powers that nullified other members, including yellow fire for Guy Gardner.)

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Random powers?

 

There was also the Composite Supereman, who looked like a green-skinned half-Superman/half-Batman and possessed all the powers of the Legion of Super Heroes.

[watson]

Re: Random powers?

 

Hugh Neilsen, I wasn't trying to list them in chronological order, but thanks for mentioning it.

 

Actually, the point of my post is that there's a "unifying theme" that these characters can claim to explain their sometimes bizarre combinations of powers.