WWYCD: Alternate Identities

[wylodmayer]

Several of the classic heroes have had "alternate" identities - that is, they adventured under other names. Superman became "Nightwind" when investigating a crime wave in the bottle-city of Kandorr, and Captain America once fought crime as "The Captain" and also, once, as "Nomad" (sniffle... memories). I'm not thinking of overt identity switches, such as when Bucky became Nomad - he wanted people to know that he had a new id, and didn't hide his connection to his old costume (well, except to Viper, at first). I'm thinking of when a hero has taken on a new identity and not letting anyone know that he's the same guy as Captain so-and-so or whatever. Sometimes this even involves different powers, as when Giant-Man became Yellowjacket!

 

Anyway, what would YOUR character do, if for some reason he felt it prudent to take on another incarnation, different from and apparently unconnected to his previous identity? What would his new name and costume be? Would he be a thinly veiled version of his previous identity, or would he fashion a totally new persona, a new approach to crime fighting? Go crazy.

[Pyre-Archer]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Pyre-Archer's abilities are pretty distinctive; there's not a lot of heroes who can create a flaming bow and arrow.

 

If he had to change, he'd probably start using the flaming staves more, and pick up some martial arts training. Keep a set of normal clubs on hand and explain the flame bit as a gimmick. Invest in some wheels to make up for the lack of flight (easily his most distinctive ability.) Barring GM fiat, that'd be my approach.

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Ballistic would likely go as a mage without his supersuit (significantly downpowering him) and going by some classic supermage name like Doctor Arcanist of something.

 

Meeb - you have got to be kidding.

 

Blackcat would put on a different costume - and go by White Tiger.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Style- Has done this when he didn't want his target to realize that they were dealing with him. He used spells to grant himself effective super-strength, density increase and growth and called himself the Lynchpin. The disguise fooled thugs, but fell apart by the end of the adventure. He still might try it again sometime.

 

Flesh Gordon - Man, a second secret identity, a mask under which I might continue my quest for justice. A name. Masked Quest for Justice? The Masked Adjudicator? Masked Justice? Yeah, not bad. Just The Mask? Nah, that's under copyright. Masked Quester? The Quest? Flesh Quest? Yeah, I like that one. Flesh Justice. Oooh. That has a ring to it. Hey, there she is. Gotta remember, new name. Gotta use the new name. Hey, baby. What's your name? My name? Call me Flesh. Ow! Hey! Ow!

 

Wow, she saw right through that.

[McCoy]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Dolphin: Is seven feet tall and runs around 3/4 naked. Boots and gloves, mask and body stocking, and he's ready to pass as a typical brick. Humm, go with a black white motif, and call himself Orca.

 

Snow Leopard: Supress her ferral/Saberblood side, emphasise her limited cold/wind/weather powers. Either a full body suit to hide Mocha skin and White hair, or a wig. Find an untaken Air/Weather codename.

 

Iron Will: Might be able to pass as a robot.

 

Cheeta: Could go two ways. A simple costume change, and hold back his limited superstrength, and he is some other speedster. Or hold back his speed, get a HA, and pass as a scrapper.

 

Millennium: Believes he has changed identity a thousand times, what's one more? Fall back on one of the old ones, Gilgamesch, Beowulf, Odysseus;

or invent a new one.

[The Weapon]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Version One, thinks about how many mages. Thinks about how long it would take them or anyone with a decent radar to find him out given he's got one of the most distinctive thaumataulogical/EM signitures on the planet. Gives up.

[David Johnston]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Hellfire briefly considered becoming a superheroine named "Midnight Blue" when her fire powers were blocked but they returned before she made her debut.

 

Wizard might build a new suit of power armour and call himself something like Ironheart.

 

Riptide would don a pair of falsies and pretend to be his own half-sister.

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Shinji Miromoro - will probably do this in the current campaign he's in. He is currently well-known as a Dark Wizard; as such, he'd probalby wear a suit and call himself "Rat 7", and go around as a street-level vigilante martial artist. It gets him out of the lair, as it were, and gives him a chance to practice his martial arts (which, when posing as simply Shinji, he doesn't do. War is deception, after all.)

 

Jake the Troll - can polymorph, so he does this as well. His "public" ID is that of Jake, the, um...Troll. His "secret" ID is Jay Richards, trollknor-at-large. Mainly this allows him to walk around in the sun, but he also occasionally would fight crime, just so long as his parents don't find out.

 

Icon - Most of Emma's power comes from her energy Aura, which is fairly distinctive. She'd also have to go the "low-powered street vigilante" route, and loose a significant portion of her fighting ability. On the upside, it means she could practice her tactics and teamwork more...

[wylodmayer]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

I figured I might as well post to my own thread.

 

Cat switched identities once after an explosion that left many believing she had died. She laid low for a while, then resurfaced as a heroine called "Dove," with a decidedly more pacifistic approach to crime fighting, to throw the villains who had been seeking to kill her off her trail.

 

Ace can master just about any physical skill in a day or so, and once posed as Captain America when the real Cap was needed elsewhere - he learned to fight almost just like him... and unfortunately wound up getting captured by some of Cap's enemies. The real deal had to rescue him and they fought their way out together.

 

Holocaust lost her powers for a while and used a spare SHIELD uniform and a blaster rifle to do what she could for the team, although she never actually gave herself a new name. Later, she temporarily wore the Iron Man armor while Stark was in the hospital.

 

Ingrid showed up as a heroine named "Olympia" for a while - her other identity was a public relations nightmare (don't ask, although those who are familiar with my previous threads might be able to guess why).

 

Not my characters, but some characters in games I have run did similar things:

 

Lady Justice wore the armor of her mentor, Defender, for a time after the original died tragically. There was a lot going on at the time, and Defender's presence on the scene was, she felt, important to holding together the loose coalition of the city's heroes that existed then.

 

Banshee, a hero with a Public ID, was exposed by gossip columnists as a druggie and an abuser of women, and he nearly got his teammates killed on one mission with his increasingly reckless and irresponible behavior. Absenting himself from the team for over a year to get his head together (and, as it turns out, study martial arts in the Far East), he returned, level headed and serious, as "Guardian." It was actually a really neat set up. The player purposefully went through about six characters during the actually-year-long time that he wasn't playing Banshee, claiming to not be able to settle on one character. When he brought in Guardian, the other PCs were none the wiser; they thought they were seeing the next one in the hit parade of alternate characters. Over several adventures, he earned their trust as a solid and dependable guy, and then revealed his real identity, asking their forgiveness for his past mistakes. It was awesome - one of the most rewarding moments I've ever had as a player or GM. That player, an old friend of mine, gets my highest props; greatest part is, that's not the only time he's pulled some seriously awesome rp on me, either. He's gem to have in a game.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Aquatic-His powers are pretty distinctive in some ways (some sea animal ablities, can breathe underwater) but almost common in others (He's a brick). He would probably get a full body costume of a different color, and hide his more visible powers. Perhaps he'd take a name like 'crusher' and down play his intelligence.

 

Banner- Son of Captain America and Diamondback, Roger might find too many choices namewise to pick from. He'd hate to lose his staff though.

 

Gaze-Gaze is a mind controller who relies a great deal on fear, but Jack might be amused to flip it around, and go for the flaymboyant in the spotlight persona, most likely adopting something like a cheesy costume jewelry amulet or a hypnodisc and pretending that was the source of his power. Taking a name like "Spin Doctor" he could go from there.

 

Comet-His powers are just too distinctive for the most part. His biofield glows etc.

 

Mole-Well, how many digging bricks are there?

 

Jaunt- Harry already knows that in one possible timeline, he becomes Trek. A temporary change would probably follow similar Sci Fi elements, though he might go for a Dr. Who motiff. Sure, he's a teleporter, and the Doc was a timelord, but being "Doctor Where" might be fun for a short time.

Until the others in the group told him how lame it was

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

I've had it happen in one of my games, where a character that left the team early on rejoined it later with a different name/costume. Was a fun reveal.

 

In one of our current campaigns, my main character Omega is pretty similar to some of the other characters. Never mind that he's the oldest, most established character in the campaign. He's a brick in a team full of bricks, similar persona to a few of the other characters, and even has a similar name to one of the other characters (Mega-man). I've been considering getting him de-powered and coming back as a skill and gadget guy, but don't know about a name. He'd hate to lose his rep bonuses, but it might be good not to be as well-known to the bad guys if he loses his massive resistant defenses...

[Sundog]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Terminus has a public ID, so he'd need a full face mask. He'd probably go for a full head wrap, a scimitar, and a long rifle. Code name: Jezail.

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Sylph already has an alternate identity -- her maenad side, which occasionally comes to the fore when she gets in over her head or when Dionysius wills it. The maenad has all of Sylph's plant-based powers, plus superstrength, toughness, and some minor hypnotic powers as well. The simplest way for this to become an extended arc would be to have Dionysius put her on some sort of quest that takes a bit longer than it has in the past.

 

Soulbarb could probably come up with a convincing alternate ID as long as she didn't have to fool anyone with magesight or the ability to otherwise sense auras/souls/magic. Her power is demonic in origin and is at its most potent when she switches to Hero ID, but she does retain access to a significant portion of her demonic strength even in her normal ID. She could probably come up with a costume and adventure as a fairly basic brick if she had to, though she'd be pretty vulnerable as much of her defenses are only available in Hero ID. She'd probably want to brush up on some martial arts skills to keep her skin in one piece and supplement her demonic strength.

[Amber Nytstar]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Luna Moth would drop the moth/butterfly motif along with the blue wig and design a new costume around either an owl, a hawk, or a raven. Then she would improve on and emphasize her martial art skills to pass herself off as a young and eager vigilante. She might get interested in the Luna Moth investigation in this guise and keeps tabs on it, but she would not get to heavily involved in it.

 

The Flying Kittens would not be able to create alternate identities at this time.

[Drhoz]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Vitus? Give up his cherished identity and name. not a bloody chance. being a 7-foot tall anthro hyena wouldn't make it easy anyway.

 

Zero could change identities easily enough,. if he needs to. He prefers not to be noticed tho, so inconspicous would still be best. Hell, he could just take his costume off and no-one would recognise him.

[Spidey88]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Phidippus thinks of himself (and is generally percieved as) a true-blue hero, but has issues with his origin (created by Hornet and trained by VIPER) that he feels compelled to atone for - so he'd be unlikely to try and ditch his identity permanently. In his mind, there's no sense trying to redeem yourself if you're pretending to be someone else - that's sort of cheating. You made you bed, now you have to lie in it!

 

He does, however, sometimes patrol various dives and less-than-classy areas in his human form (in disguise) to try to catch the word on the street. In his non-hero ID, almost all his powers still work just fine (save for rPD/rED exoskeleton and extra arms), so that means Lipreading + concealed telescopic, 360 degree nightvision can concievably be used to considerable effect while nursing soda pop in the corner of the bar!

 

I could certainly see him developing this vague alternate I.D. into an actual individual if he needed to go undercover, either as a henchman or a man on the street; but he'd have to be careful who he associated with and how - his CVK is ironclad.

 

I could see him taking on a new super I.D. on a temporary basis, under circumstances such as:

 

1) Public relations SNAFU or frame-up that requires him to clear his name - the extra I.D. would be used to a) get to the bottom of the problem and keep fighting the good fight and not get lynched in the process.

 

2) Subtle mystery requiring guile that his regular I.D. would set off too many alarms on - things such as infiltrating an organized crime ring (one that isn't too brutal, anyway). Again, he wouldn't want to put himself in a situation where innocents would be threatened or he'd have to seriously hurt someone - he'd rather blow his cover than kill or allow an innocent to come to harm. The only thing that could even make him pause in a situation like that is the knowledge that the stakes are really high - eg. supervillain will blow up the entire city if his cover is blown - but even then he'd go to the ends of the earth to find another option.

 

Anyway...

 

As for alternate I.D.'s? Well, he's demi-brick strong (45), extremely agile (39), and quick as hell (SPD 8), so that could cover a lot of ground. He's got a bevy of athletic skills and several martial arts maneuvers, so he could concievably imitate the range from low-grade brick to straight-up martial artist. He's got enough Running and Leaping to pass as a speedster to some degree - but while his combat movement is stellar, he's devoid of any extra noncombat multiples or megascale movement, so he might only pass as a "demi-speedster" under scrutiny. With enough prep time, he's got enough of the science and inventor skillset to pass as a gadgeteer as long as his "gadgets" are the supposed focus for some of his natural abilities, with a few little trinkets for variety. He could talk the talk, at least.

 

In all cases, he's got to a) develop/buy/borrow some sort of armour, since he relies almost entirely on a high DCV for defense (his exoskeleton is really only very light armour, rPD/rED 10), or adopt an I.D. that does the same with a different schtick, avoid using his really distinctive abilities, such as his extra arms, swinging movement mode, and the aforementioned exoskeleton, c) probably find some way to subtly deal with both his vulnerability to visual flash attacks and susceptibility to certain pesticides (at least for the short-term), and d) make good use of his acting and disguise skills!

 

The I.D. needing the least amount of work would be for Phidippus to pass himself off as a highly-skilled martial artist/athlete type. Aside from the above considerations, he'd probably try to downplay his clinging + overall movement abilities, SPD, and STR somewhat to appear at least a little closer to the "highly-trained human" range - at least while he's under observation. To complete the "martial artist" illusion, he might pick up a weapon familiarity or two, or the weapon element for his homebrew/instinctive martial arts style (he'd be more likely to use less lethal weapons, like nunchuku, escrima sticks, or a staff over things like swords, knives, or spears - at least directly against human opponents).

 

Personality-wise, he's never going to budge on his CVK and "good-guy" outlook, but he'd definitely try to be less boisterous. The best bet would be to say as little as possible to cement the "brooding stalker of the shadows" motif so common amongst the martial artist powerset, and he's stealthy enough to cover that angle quite well. Surreptitious use of his speed, clinging, etc. could simulate the whole ninja-esque "stealth-teleport out of nowhere in curious, inaccessible places" thing. As long as he didn't overdo it (and have too many questions asked), I could see this boosting his new I.D.'s Rep fairly quickly. The new costume could provide limited PRE (only for intimidation-type PRE attacks, OIHID) for fairly cheap to assist this too.)

 

 

"Holy crap! Did you hear about that Silver Shadow guy? Came out of nowhere and took out Jimmy's crew in less than a minute. Jimmy ran down the alley, and he was standing there in front of him! All he said was: 'Tell your boss I'm coming for him.' "

"Jimmy hasn't slept in three days."

 

In a nutshell:

 

+10 to 12 PRE (OIF, OIHID, only for intimidation style PRE attacks) - (say, around 4 real points)

 

I could make his base PD and ED (10 ea.) resistant via costume (OIF), but I'd assume since he's paid for it as part of his exoskeleton (which can be naturally subsumed under his skin, and not considered a focus), he wouldn't have to pay for it twice (just a different special effect, but that's just my opinion). At any rate, I'd want to ensure that he'd have some sort of resistant defenses, so something like an average super attack wouldn't completely cripple him (but still hurt like crazy).

 

Weapon element: staff or nunchuku - (1 point: I'd use it as a special effect only. 45 STR plus Offensive Strike is plenty of damage to imitate a M.A. already! Maybe we could assume the staff/nunchucks aren't tough enough to be able to stand up to superhuman STR and dish out extra dmg.)

 

Flash defense goggles/helmet: say, 5 Def for sight group (OIHID, IIF) - (3pts. Hopefully this wouldn't violate the "Only disads that inconveniece the character give you points" edict for his Vulnerability, or more likely have to reduce the frequency of the disad.)

 

Total cost? Possibly 8 points (and presumably a lot of roleplaying) for a new life!

 

(For all those who've made it this far - this thread has really got me thinking about the possibilities. Any feedback would be super!)

 

As a final note, after picking up the Ultimate Skill, I couldn't help but buy a musical skill for Phidippus and retcon it as part of his background. With a pittance of points expended for him to be a guitarist to match Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, or Joe Satriani (would 19- be sufficient for that?); Phidippus could get a new look in his human form and go on tour as a rock star. A shame he couldn't use the extra arms without blowing his cover...

 

 

Sorry - I'm long-winded (type-ed?). This thread really got me thinking. Thank you for your patience...

[Spidey88]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

By the way, wylodmayer:

 

I'd totally Rep you for this question if I could - it's been too recent since the last time I did so. I guess I owe you some for later!

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Anthem would likely modify her martial arts fighting style and go luchadore. She's certainly got the acrobatics. She'd have to come up with a snappy wrestling name. But I could see her working the circuit and fighting crime for a while before coming back to town.

 

Uncle Slam doesn't have anything in his backstory but he really should. I could see him going out and performing street justice as a release from the high level stuff he normally does. His costume would be non-descript and dark. He'd downplay his strength and use his martial arts more. Again I can't think of an alternate name though.

[saiyanslayer]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

I've have considered this lately. Ashley had died once, and left his villainous past behind. And considering INTERPOL is still after him, faking his heroic death would finally get them off his back. To be certain, he would leave his energy katars and clothing behind.

 

A new image for him would be a blindfolded martial artist (using his telekinetic and telepathic abilities to 'see') who would use a more traditional weapon, like a bow staff and rely on more stun attacks than killing attacks. He would also wear a white costume like a monk.

 

Note: I also expect Ashley to create an actual public id that would ironically live somewhere close to nighthawk's secret id (Ashley drives him absolutely bonkers ALL the time), and be a civil and polite neighbour. The inside jokes would be AWESOME. And the look on Nighthawk's face once he realized who he's been borrowing sugar from for the past 2 weeks... and the mind games.... oh the mind games....

[Spidey88]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Oh, that would be evil...

 

If I was your GM (hey, wait - I am!), I'd give you Nighthawk as a Hunted after that kind of stunt. Forget rivalry - he'd be too furious.

[lemming]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Meeb - you have got to be kidding.

 

Pour him into a battlesuit.

[Radar]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Our old group did this when confronted by an evil corporation who used the law to protect themselves. Five members of our Avengers-sized superteam switched costumes and approaches and became a bit more Machiavellian in their approach to dealing with the corp, and signed all our actions as being perpetrated by the Retribution Syndicate. Unfortunately, the game ended before we could get into all the juicy aftermaths of using these methods.

[Black Rose]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Part of my difficulties with this one (tho' I love the idea) is that the characters I use the most tend to have fairly "dark" -- and rather obvious -- abilities. But lemme try....

 

Penumbra would get a power reduction, since his non-shadow magicks are at about 45-60 AP in a 75-90 AP world, and the attacks in that bunch are not the most powerful (mostly funky-specific defenses, movements, and various utility powers). He'd probably try to come across as a "weak" full elementalist with a bound shadow demon (which he'd almost never use). A glamour would make him look older than he is, adding to the "I've studied for decades to reach this point."

 

Kodachi would have a very hard time, as many of her powers are connected to her weaknesses. If she somehow could work around that, Kodachi could go in several directions with her martial arts -- taijutsu, wushu, aikijutsu -- and she could give her limited ritual magic studies a good dust-off. She'd almost have to be either in a support role on a team with several females or undercover at a girls' school.

[Metaphysician]

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities

 

Hmm, well, Hermes has the skills and powers to pretend to be 'merely' a super martial artist. Wear a disguise, limit himself to a relatively normal movement rate, maybe carry around some melee weapons.

 

The bigger problem is carrying off the deception in anything other than combat. He has barely any skill and dissimilation at all.