Grimble Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes The Doctors Forester: A scientist at a super-science research facility (Very similar to DCs S.T.A.R. Labs) trying to build teleportaion pads. He built two test pads. One on each side of his lab. Late one night Dr. Forester was sure he had everything right. He stepped onto the 1st pad and turned it on. It worked! He was on the other pad facing the wall. Turning around he saw himself on the first pad staring at him. The good doctor actually built a duplication pad. He now has Duplication (Can not recombine, 1 exact duplicate). They call themselves The Doctors Forester, and have been legally ruled as seperate people. They both work for the research lab and are still trying to build a working teleporter. Grimble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes That was already done in one of Aaron Alston's scenario modules "Bad Trip for Dr. Drugs" or something like that. It was a teen hero style setting from way back in first or second edition days with stats for Champions and Superworld. One of the prefab heroes was a speedster in a wheelchair. "Bad Medicine for Dr Drugs". A dual-statted Superworld/Champions module from Chaosium. It was by Ken Rolston, not Aaron Allston. The guy in the wheelchair had a 3 SPD. He had pretty fast movement though. One of the other guys in the team was more like a traditional speedster. I'm kind of fond of that module. It's "plot" consisted of three unrelated episodes that the GM was expected to somehow string together, and the characters in it were rather absurd, but still, somehow, it has an aura of coolness... It might be worth revisiting as a Teen Champions scenario. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston GM Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes I was toying with a "benchwarmer" supergroup concept for a while. The best character I came up with was... Olfactor: Discriminatory Smell, Tracking Smell, Ranged Smell, Targeting Smell, +PER to Smell Group Shape Shift for Smell Group only Images for Smell Group only when I'm running a random powers campaign I just can't see most of the characters in this thread deciding to Fight Crime - that's a little more silly than I like things. The guy is a crimefighter, but primarily on an investigative level. He can smell a meth lab a mile away. He can find drug dealers and users. He can track fugitives. Benchwarmer Group concept: (In a "recent origins" universe) the benchwarmers used to be sidekicks in superhero-sidekick duos. The U.S. government decided to form their own team, so they invited all the superheroes to join it ... but they weren't interested in the "weak" sidekicks. However, the sidekicks were more valuable than they appeared to be. They were the investigative half of their respective pairs. When the ex-sidekicks form their own team, they're not nearly as laughable as people expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimble Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Olfactor: Discriminatory Smell, Tracking Smell, Ranged Smell, Targeting Smell, +PER to Smell Group Shape Shift for Smell Group only Images for Smell Group only The guy is a crimefighter, but primarily on an investigative level. He can smell a meth lab a mile away. He can find drug dealers and users. He can track fugitives. The 4ED book had a guy called Proboscus as one of the "Power Examples". I built him as a detective type NPC. He had Dist Feature: Huge nose. Grimble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustytomes Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes The Fisher King: A high school drama teacher turned crime fighter. He's a good fencer, has a small gadget pool(mostly various hooks for his pole) and he's an amazingly good fly fisher w/ a high tech fencing-rod(a fly rod he can fence with). He dresses like a musketeer except he his all these little fly hooks in his big floppy hat and his Cavalier boots are rubber hip waders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Benchwarmers? Okay... Splatter Jack -- This unusual villain had the ability to telekinetically manipulate paint (as well as inks and dyes) so long as they were still in a fluid state. Ranged attacks via full paint cans, flash attacks with the liquid stuff, and a cosmetic transform (with an area of effect) since he would make graffiti and artworks with his power. His backstory had him painting the house of a neophyte magician and blundering into the pentagram with a full bucket of paint at exactly the wrong moment... Mr. Boredom -- This minor league villain had the perfect tone of voice for a featureless monotone that would (in the space of a minute or two of his rambling monologue) put everyone within earshot asleep. He was using the bit on subway passengers to pick their pockets and slip off the train at the next stop. After he finally got caught, he shortened his prison stay by helping quell agitated prisoners with his power. He wasn't quite reformed, but he mostly stayed out of trouble by working as a drug-free tranquilizer for patients at the local hospital... Matt "Comic-relief" Frisbee P.S. -- I'm feeling very Satanic right now! Post # 666! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted January 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Olfactor: Discriminatory Smell, Tracking Smell, Ranged Smell, Targeting Smell, +PER to Smell Group Shape Shift for Smell Group only Images for Smell Group only The guy is a crimefighter, but primarily on an investigative level. He can smell a meth lab a mile away. He can find drug dealers and users. He can track fugitives. That description reminded me of a character from the 1960s Alvin Show. Sam Valiant, Private Nose was featured in one episode (he looked sort of like those big-nosed guys with the bushy moustaches from the Pink Panther cartoons). If I remember correctly, he wore a trench coat, fedora, and dark glasses. He seemed to be blind, but compensated for it with his terrific sense of smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted January 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Splatter Jack Excellent concept, but I like the next one better. Mr. Boredom Could you imagine Ben Stein as this character? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustytomes Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Timmy Thomson: A 9 year old with a small Cumulative Mind control with the set effect of "must haymaker pre attack Timmy and Shout SHUT UP!" Little Timmy must ask endless pointless questions for the duration of the power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted January 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Timmy Thomson: A 9 year old with a small Cumulative Mind control with the set effect of "must haymaker pre attack Timmy and Shout SHUT UP!" Little Timmy must ask endless pointless questions for the duration of the power. By this I shouldn't suppose you ever plan to have children then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimble Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Roland,The headless Thompson Gunner: He is a headless undead army grunt with a Thompson sub-machine gun. He appears on battle fields across the world, fighting the good fight. Nobody knows where he goes when not in combat. Grimble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted January 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Roland' date='The headless Thompson Gunner:[/b'] He is a headless undead army grunt with a Thompson sub-machine gun. He appears on battle fields across the world, fighting the good fight. Nobody knows where he goes when not in combat. Actually, he goes to undead night school. He hopes that when he gets his degree, he might, at last, get a head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimble Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Actually, he goes to undead night school. He hopes that when he gets his degree, he might, at last, get a head. The Egg thread has you stuck on lame word play jokes,huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Jogger Posted January 25, 2007 Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes A few of my favorite semi-supers: Paul Benson: Had the power of Growth. The first +10 STR (to 8 feet) had 0 END, Persistant. The next +10 STR (up to 16 feet) had x2 END. The final +10 STR (25 feet tall) was horribly painful (x2 END, Charges that took a week to recover, Side Effect: Took 3D6 STUN due to Oxygen debt). Armature: A guy whose power armor was a fancy forklift with mechancial arms. Stairs was his biggest weakness. "But without the suit, I wouldn't be Armature!" Blinker: Speedster Teleporter, Always On (unless wearing a belt inhibitor), Extra Mass (x32). Part of "Two Mutants Will Move You" Beamer: Long Distance (x32) Teleporter. (Could also summon small tagged objects like wallets to his hand.) The other half of "Two Mutants will Move You" When Blinker and Beamer worked together, they could together move large objects over long distances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted January 25, 2007 Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Another couple of low-powered annoyances from my campaigns... Scrapyard -- At the start of a fight, he was barely superhuman brick with a home-built set of combat armor for a costume. Problem was, he had absorption power which fed into his Strength. Players eventually learned that they had to dog pile on this guy to the exclusion of everything else to take him out of the fight before he became a major problem. He started avoiding this problem by jumping off of moderately high buildings to pump his Strength... Frizbee -- A disc tossing pain in the butt who contracted out to every criminal organization in the game universe. One of his discs was a teleportation against others at range that would "vorp" the unlucky target 15 game inches straight up... Matt "The-twisted-GM" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkwleisemann Posted January 27, 2007 Report Share Posted January 27, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Deus Ex - Massive VPP, all powers must be bought Usable As Attack, with the limitation 'cannot be used by self.' He walks around, finds people in dire need, and forces a largely random gadget into their hands before running for cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted January 27, 2007 Report Share Posted January 27, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Heh. I once had a character who was a second stringer. He was a paraplegic mentalist, but he kept his super powers secret. He just "happened to be there" whenever trouble started and somehow escaped injury. He was also a pacifist (although he stunned a few people with Ego Attack), which seemed to annoy the other players a bit. My line of thinking was, his motivation was to protect people. Beating up the bad guys was a secondary concern. Has anyone checked out Stuperpowers? It has some wacky powers that would be perfect for the heroes. Warning: Some of the powers would be classified as "adult content." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted January 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Heh. I once had a character who was a second stringer. He was a paraplegic mentalist, but he kept his super powers secret. He just "happened to be there" whenever trouble started and somehow escaped injury. He was also a pacifist (although he stunned a few people with Ego Attack), which seemed to annoy the other players a bit. My line of thinking was, his motivation was to protect people. Beating up the bad guys was a secondary concern. Excellent concept. Repped. Has anyone checked out Stuperpowers? It has some wacky powers that would be perfect for the heroes. Warning: Some of the powers would be classified as "adult content." Never heard of it before this moment. What is it and where might it be found? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimble Posted January 27, 2007 Report Share Posted January 27, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Stuperpowers is a goofy, thin softcover RPG. You should be able to find it at your local gaming store (or have them order it). Grimble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Here's a site where you can buy the book. You can also download the quick start rules (I seem to be having trouble with that though), and look at a few sample powers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Back in August of '99, I wrote up the Mystery Men and posted them to rec.games.frp.super-heroes. My own contribution (whose stats are posted in the same vicinity as the Mystery Men): The Goalie. Truly awesome hockey player, has a Martial Art form based around hockey, plus Missile Deflection and a ranged attack (shooting pucks at people). Wears a Kevlar hockey suit plus a goalie mask with a bright yellow smiley face sticker on it (this last was the result of frightening a small child who'd seen the Friday the 13th movies too many times; thinking quickly he bought the sticker from a nearby vendor and slapped it onto his mask). He drives around in a jet black AMC Pacer. Here is a Google search that will take you right to the writeups for all of them (4th edition), including the Goalie. The "take 2" versions are post-feedback changes, but the background bits are in the originals. You'll want to look at both sets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted January 31, 2007 Report Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Benchwarmers: Semi-super heroes Here's another couple of would-be supervillains -- Paisley -- This light manipulating metahuman was completely human in every other way, except for his power to permanently change the color of any (human sized or smaller) object. Paisley also had a streak of nasty in his soul and would use his power to create potentially lethal situations that would attract the attention of heroes while he would do a smash and grab robbery nearby... Mistress Moron -- This villainess had the power to make people around her stupid (via an AE INT drain) to the point that stealing things was pretty easy. After a few highly embarassing incidents with political figures in the campaign city, the police no longer let her near city officials or other VIP's.... Matt "Filling-in-the-corners-of-the-super-universe" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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