Beastboy

[Spence]

I have versions of several of the Teen Titans for use in a Teen Champions game. One of the characters I haven't made yet was Beastboy. I have decided to remedy that and then realized I have a small problem.

 

I don't remember all the shapes BB can change into, or to be more accurate, the shapes he tends to stick to.

 

The ones I remember are:

 

Pterodactyl

Gorilla

Elephant

Cheeta

Fly

Rhino

Mouse

 

I know I am missing several,

 

Any help?

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Beastboy

 

If you are using the animated TV show as the main source you can add the following:

 

T-Rex

dog (bloodhound) tracking and other enhanced senses

 

I'm pretty sure the 1st appearance of Aqua-Lad episode featured:

Octopus

Dolphin

Shark

[Spence]

Re: Beastboy

 

If you are using the animated TV show as the main source you can add the following:

 

T-Rex

dog (bloodhound) tracking and other enhanced senses

 

I'm pretty sure the 1st appearance of Aqua-Lad episode featured:

Octopus

Dolphin

Shark

 

Yes I am, the animated version that is.

 

 

Thanks

[Spence]

Re: Beastboy

 

To give a little more info. I am aiming character at newer gamers and have decided to buy his forms as pre-set forms. That way the new player can just jump forms rather than try to figure out shifting point values.

[Bloodstone]

Re: Beastboy

 

Off the top of my head he's also used:

 

Goat

Humpback Whale

Kitten

Guinea Pig

Crab

Yack

Tiger

Bear

Wolf

Swordfish

Electric Eel

Hawk/Eagle

Alligator

Werewolf...

 

you really want me to keep going here?

 

I assume you are dong this with Multiform?

 

Best thing to do is might be to figure out a a variety of preset shapes based on the role you want them to play (flier, swimmer, move through specialist, brick, shrinker, etc)

 

Then tell the player that even though cheetahs are faster and tigers are stronger, this "Big Cat" form represents them both. Any time you use one of the species specific powers (ie "Cheetah Sprint" or "Lion Roar"), Beast Boy is simply assumed to have shifted shape, but there is no major stat swapping and it's really just SFX at that point.

[Spence]

Re: Beastboy

 

Well it sounded like a good idea when I had it.....

[csyphrett]

Re: Beastboy

 

Don't forget virus and the Tamaranian gore hound, or whatever it was.

 

Too bad you can't have a big multipower and that power is basically linked to shapechange. You know like Shapechange: Elephant with Growth. THen you can put in a physical lim like no hands when shape changes or something.

CES

[Spence]

Re: Beastboy

 

Well the concept was to build BB so that a new player, read 10-15 YO could play him. Shapechangers can be a bear

[Qelan]

Re: Beastboy

 

Well the concept was to build BB so that a new player' date=' read 10-15 YO could play him. Shapechangers can be a bear [/quote']

 

Don’t give up hope yet. Sometimes I find that new players have a better grasp with RPGs because they don’t limit their imaginations with "the rules".

 

Just explain to the new player that he can shapchange to any animal form but you control his character sheet. So, if he needs super str he might change to an elephant or great ape. You can then explain to him that the elephant maybe able to absorb more damage then the ape but the ape is more mobile. Soon he will start coming up with some of their own interesting choices.

 

Sometimes for new players I make a separate character sheet that only list the titles of their powers or active powers without any math or numbers. Sometimes they will add short explanations.

[Sidume]

Re: Beastboy

 

Changeling/BeastBoy is one of those characters that don't work well in Champions. Shape change can be extremely powerful and/or versatile. The easiest way to do it is to cheat.

 

Create the base character (stats, skills, etc). Give the character a powerpool (say 300 pts, ignoring the normal restriction that multiform & senses shouldn't be in a pool). You are the GM, you can do that.

 

Just slap on alternative advantages & limitations (must be real animals ("real" in the comic sense anyway)), creatures must be green, creatures can be bought with powers - but they must be powers the creature has (bats can have sonar & flight, a hippo can't), etc.

 

With Champions, shapeshifters who aren't limited to a few forms get very expensive.

[Qelan]

Re: Beastboy

 

I know you were looking for a simple way to do BB but as someone mentioned earlier you might want to use a build like this;

 

Shapechange( animal forms)

 

Armor, Life Support, Movement MultiPower, Clinging, Extra Limb, all powers var. FX and powers based on ShapeChanging

 

Growth/Shrinking Multipower

 

+STR based on Growth

+DEX based on less Growth

 

Maybe some stretching or some skills based on ShapeChanging. The Armor will be subject to GM judgment limitation but doesn’t have to represent a realistic toughness of normal animals. (gee, his hide is like tank armor)

 

If this is a new player I would most likely not give him the full character sheet but more of a cheat sheet for his character and let the GM hold the full sheet for the actual values needed.

[Enoch]

Re: Beastboy

 

Changeling/BeastBoy is one of those characters that don't work well in Champions. Shape change can be extremely powerful and/or versatile. The easiest way to do it is to cheat.

 

Create the base character (stats, skills, etc). Give the character a powerpool (say 300 pts, ignoring the normal restriction that multiform & senses shouldn't be in a pool). You are the GM, you can do that.

 

 

Where are you getting that Multi-Form can't go in a pool? Multi-Form itself is a standard power and according to the text on page 212 there's nothing at all that forbids it from being in a pool. As far as the senses go just buy them on the multi-form itself. I do agree with the limitations you brought up though.

 

My suggestion to the OP is to stat it up as a Multi-Form VPP and then just stat out a variety of animals for the player to shape-change into. Let him know that if you guys need stats for something that you guys haven't stated before the game starts that you'll base it off one of the stated forms. If he wants to come up with new and unique forms to use frequently then let him but let him know that you guys aren't going to let it slow the game down. In other words make sure he knows new form means you guys will be winging it, new form he wants to use a bunch will have to be winged until after the session is over then it'll get stated out fully if needed.

[Tom]

Re: Beastboy

 

Here is a shapeshifter my son played for a little bit when I was trying to introduce him to Champions. I'd randomly rolled the char using the templates in the Champs book, and came up with a metamorph -- and since he really liked BB in the animated TT series, I tweaked it to match...

 

All I really worried about was how much growth/shrinking and how much HA might be applicable... As long as I told him he was whatever animal he wanted to be, he was happy with it...

[Edsel]

Re: Beastboy

 

Here is a version of Beastboy from the animated Teen Titans, that I got off of these forums a year or two ago. I don't remember who created it. It is done using only 232 points and is a pretty basic write-up. Perhaps it might be of some use.

EDIT: What the heck, here is the whole team. All done by the same unknown author. The Starfire write-up is not my version the file is just named that way. If anybody does remember who did these versions please credit them.

[Egyptoid]

Re: Beastboy

 

Best thing to do is might be to figure out a a variety of preset shapes based on the role you want them to play (flier, swimmer, move through specialist, brick, shrinker, etc)

 

Then tell the player that even though cheetahs are faster and tigers are stronger, this "Big Cat" form represents them both. Any time you use one of the species specific powers (ie "Cheetah Sprint" or "Lion Roar"), Beast Boy is simply assumed to have shifted shape, but there is no major stat swapping and it's really just SFX at that point.

 

that is a beautiful concept, and sounds playworthy.

does anyone have a shapeshifter written up that way ?

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Beastboy

 

Animal Forms: Multiform (300 Character Points in the most expensive form) (Instant Change, x8 Number Of Forms) 80-points.

 

Beastboy - DC Database

http://en.dcdatabaseproject.com/Garfield_Logan_%28New_Earth%29

 

Beastboy - Titan's Tower

http://www.titanstower.com/meetingalpha.html

 

Beastboy [Animated] - Matt's 250pt Project

http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/html/Beast_Boy-jd.html

 

Animal Metamorphs - DC Database

http://en.dcdatabaseproject.com/Shape-Shifting

 

Shapeshifters - Marvel Database

http://en.marveldatabase.com/Category:Shapeshifters

 

 

More Later

 

 

QM

[Spence]

Re: Beastboy

 

I appreciate all the advice, but most are missing the target.

 

The PC is intended for new players. One shot games like a con. Not repeat versions with the regular group that gives time for a new player to "learn how to adjust thins on the fly". BB is one of the popular characters so I am looking for a simple way to do the build. I already have a stripped character sheet that mostly just has the end data and none of the actual costs.

 

I think I will just pick a spread of forms and use them.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Beastboy

 

The HERO System Bestiary

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63137

 

Use the stats from there and adjust to match Beastboy and play.

 

QM

[bubba smith]

Re: Beastboy

 

you could give him a time limit for changes

after all gar logan wouldn't want to be in animal form ALL DAY

[Doc Samson]

Re: Beastboy

 

I think Q-man is right. Go with a Multiform or even a Multiform VPP and have the all the forms on sheets ahead of time. If you don't wanna write them up yourself, use the Bestiary. Not sure you can do a shapeshifter much easier than that (i.e. in a way that removes all the decisions except what animal you wanna be).

[Spence]

Re: Beastboy

 

I think Q-man is right. Go with a Multiform or even a Multiform VPP and have the all the forms on sheets ahead of time. If you don't wanna write them up yourself' date=' use the Bestiary. Not sure you can do a shapeshifter much easier than that (i.e. in a way that removes all the decisions except what animal you wanna be).[/quote']

 

Well, that is actually what I was originally doing.

 

I couldn't remember all the forms he used and was under the impression that it was a handful. I just don't remember that big of a variety and the list looked manageable, right up until Bloodstone’s post. Counting up that makes it BB + 27 additional forms . Not impossible, just a pain in the a$$. I have HDv3 and most of the character packs.

 

I can just see handing the players the PC folders. Robin, Starfire, Raven and all are small thin packs with a one page character sheet plus a handout. And then there is BeastBoy with a 3” binder

 

I think I will write up BB and a few of the forms at a time and when I use him in a game, just include a selection. Not the entire menagerie. It is intended for cons or introductory games after all.

 

I just didn't forsee how big a project it was turning into...

[Bloodstone]

Re: Beastboy

 

Sorry

 

You could easily trim it down to about 8 forms or so if you wanted. Many of Salad-heads changes are pretty redundant, like the Goat and the Rhino or the Pterodactyl and the Eagle.

[Spence]

Re: Beastboy

 

Sorry

 

You could easily trim it down to about 8 forms or so if you wanted. Many of Salad-heads changes are pretty redundant, like the Goat and the Rhino or the Pterodactyl and the Eagle.

 

No need for you to apologize. It looks like my ideas were bigger than my writing hand

 

I am probably going to pick half a dozen useful forms geared toward versatility. And then slowly add to the list. At the beginning of a game I will either pre-pick the forms available or more likely let the person playing BB pick X forms just before play.

 

Now all I have to do is come up with suitable color screen shots for the character sheets. Which will greatly influence which forms I build first

[Pattern Ghost]

Re: Beastboy

 

I like the idea of picking several pre-set forms, as suggested by Bloodstone. Here's my suggested list, based on comic and cartoon appearances:

 

• Rhino: High defense brick form.
  
• Gorilla: Martial brick form. Also useful when he needs stats AND hands.
  
• Monkey: Higher agility, climbing ability (clinging with limits requiring hand/foot holds), good for evading while using hands. Used to play "keep away" from villains.
  
• Cheetah/Big Cat: Ground movement + offense form. Good for closing the gap to melee.
  
• Various Bird forms: Flying, telescopic sight (raptors), good for scouting.
  
• Pterodactyl: Flying while hauling a teammate. Not as maneuverable as bird forms.
  
• Fly: Scouting, evading security systems.
  
• Dog/Bloodhound: Tracking scent. A generic dog form seems to be one of his defaults while just hanging around the base.
  
• Aquatic form: He's done whales, sharks, and dolphins. I'd go with shark since it's reasonably sized, fast and has a good offense and defense.
  

 

Something like that should give a good list of options, especially if you give the player a little note at the top of each critter write up indicating the strengths of the form.

[Spence]

Re: Beastboy

 

I like the idea of picking several pre-set forms, as suggested by Bloodstone. Here's my suggested list, based on comic and cartoon appearances:

--snip--

 

I think I will steal that list