Bran MaCree, the Human Portal

[CTaylor]

OK I don't have time to join a local Champions game on the weekend like I'd love to but I made a character for it anyway because I just love making characters. I wanted to toss the build out for people to see here so they can peruse it and see if it seems abusive or excessive in some way:

 

Bran MaCree (The Human Portal)

 

Player: Christopher Taylor

 

Val Char Cost

13 STR 3

16 DEX 18

13 CON 6

10 BODY 0

17 INT 7

12 EGO 4

15 PRE 5

14 COM 2

 

6 PD 3

5 ED 2

4 SPD 14

6 REC 0

26 END 0

24 STUN 0

 

9" RUN 6

4" SWIM 2

2 1/2" LEAP 0

Characteristics Cost: 72

 

Cost Power

24 Power Shift: Multiform (350 Character Points in the most expensive form) (Instant Change, x16 Number Of Forms), 1 Continuing Charge lasting 6 Hours (+0), Reversion (+1/4) (119 Active Points); Personality Loss First Roll After 1 Turn (-2), Limited Power Cannot control what he turns into (random or GM choice) (-1), Can only choose one form per day (-1/2), Total immediate personality loss (-1/2)

5 Luck 1d6

5 Seen it all: +10 PRE; Defense only (-1)

11 Immortal: Life Support (Eating: Character does not eat; Longevity: Immortal; Sleeping: Character does not sleep)

6 Tireless: +0 STR, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (6 Active Points) (Modifiers affect Base Characteristic)

9 Tireless: Running 0" (9" total), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (9 Active Points)

4 Spring Baton: Hand-To-Hand Attack +2d6 (10 Active Points); OAF (-1), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2)

Powers Cost: 64

 

Cost Martial Arts Maneuver

Jeet Kun Do

5 1) Defensive Block: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +3 DCV, Block, Abort

5 2) Defensive Strike: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +3 DCV, 4 1/2d6 Strike

3 3) Defensive Throw: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +1 DCV, Block, Target Falls

4 4) Fast Strike: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +0 DCV, 6 1/2d6 Strike

4 5) Martial Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort

4 6) Shove: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, 38 STR STR to Shove

5 7) Takeaway: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, Grab Weapon, 33 STR to take weapon away

8 +2 HTH Damage Class(es)

Martial Arts Cost: 38

 

Cost Skill

4 AK: Local City 13-

3 Breakfall 12-

3 Bureaucratics 12-

3 Climbing 12-

5 Computer Programming (Personal Computers, Local Networks, Mainframes and Supercomputers) 12-

3 Concealment 12-

10 Defense Maneuver I-IV

10 +2 with Detective Skills

Detective Skills

3 1) Bugging 12-

3 2) Conversation 12-

3 3) Criminology 12-

3 4) Cryptography 12-

3 5) Deduction 12-

3 6) Interrogation 12-

3 7) Lipreading 12-

3 8) Lockpicking 12-

3 9) PS: Private Investigator 12-

3 10) Shadowing 12-

3 11) Streetwise 12-

3 Disguise 12-

3 High Society 12-

5 KS: Russian Mob 14-

4 Language: Russian (idiomatic)

3 Language: Spanish (completely fluent)

3 Paramedics 12-

3 Persuasion 12-

5 Security Systems 13-

5 Stealth 13-

Skills Cost: 108

 

Cost Perk

7 Contact (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has: extremely useful Skills or resources, Good relationship with Contact) 11-

4 Contact (Contact has: useful Skills or resources, Good relationship with Contact) 11-

5 Contact (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has: very useful Skills or resources) 11-

2 Favor

2 Favor

3 Access

2 Deep Cover

1 Fringe Benefit: PI License

5 Money: Well Off

Perks Cost: 31

 

Cost Talent

29 Danger Sense (immediate vicinity, out of combat, Function as a Sense) 14-

3 Lightsleep

5 Eidetic Memory

Talents Cost: 37

 

Total Character Cost: 350

 

Pts. Disadvantage

5 Accidental Change: At night, if he hasn't changed into a hero form that day 8- (Uncommon)

10 Dependent NPC: Receptionist Madge 11- (Normal; Useful Noncombat Position or Skills)

20 Hunted: Russian Mafia 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Harshly Punish)

10 Hunted: Transdimensional criminals 11- (As Pow, Limited Geographical Area, Harshly Punish)

15 Psychological Limitation: Loves puzzles and mysteries (Common, Strong)

15 Psychological Limitation: Cold, analytical, unemotional (Common, Strong)

5 Reputation: Washed out of the force, 11- (Known Only To A Small Group)

10 Social Limitation: Secret Identity (Occasionally, Major)

10 Susceptibility: Being Teleported, 2d6 damage Instant (Uncommon)

5 Unluck: 1d6

10 Weirdness magnet

Disadvantage Points: 115

Base Points: 250

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

 

BACKGROUND/HISTORY: Former cop turned PI after a transdimensional accident changed his life forever.

 

Bran was a dedicated police officer with a great record until the day he faced a moral dilemma. He had a choice between shooting an innocent looking young man in public or letting that young man unleash an extradimensional hell on the city and the world. In the fight with Nazi soldiers, six armed snake demons, floating eyeballs, dinosaurs and other ghastly creatures, he managed to get through to the portal and the man in front of it, and while tentacles and claws pulled him in, he shot the apparently innocent bystander in the face, closing the portal in a blast that blew out every window in six city blocks. Bran awoke six weeks later in a hospital to an IAD man and while they knew that he'd stopped the portal, he was seen deliberately shooting a black man in the head on live national television. They had to kick him off the force under pressure from a prominent reverend and nationwide condemnation. He was exonerated of criminal charges but disgraced and lost his pension and badge.

 

Now he has a detective agency in which he takes on difficult cases and does extraordinarily well at them. He seems to be very protected by various superheroes as well, something that makes his enemies and potential enemies somewhat cautious.

 

PERSONALITY/MOTIVATION: Bran never was a deep, emotional sort, but after the incident with the portal, he became even more cold and unfeeling. Whether it was a psychological defense or just some change in his psyche from the dimensional energies is unclear. He loves to solve puzzles, unpack mysteries, and study the unknown, but he does so from a completely objective perspective, unmoved by sadness and greif, unconcerned with who is hurt or why. Each new case is just a job, a new puzzle to beat.

 

As each different hero, each has their own personality and motivation.

 

QUOTE: "I never know what tomorrow will bring, but at least it will be different"

 

POWERS/TACTICS: Bran is a very accomplished martial artist after decades of training and innate talent. He has been at the job of detective and police officer so long that he has a sense of danger and trouble, almost a sixth sense of ambush and trouble. He tends to be very lucky but also very unlucky. Bran gained some very minor powers in the portal event, such as not tiring out and sleeping very lightly. He runs significantly faster than normal and stopped aging at the moment the portal exploded. Because of Bran's background as an undercover detective in the Russian mob, he has a great deal of skill and contacts, but also some enemies.

 

Due to the interdimensional explosion, Bran has become a portal of sorts himself. He can once per day for a limited amount of time swap himself for someone else. While this goes on, he becomes another person, although all the experiences and memories of that time period are shared. So far he has become sixteen different alternate superheroes from other dimensions, each one trapped by various events and traumas such as being imprisoned in some alternate zone or being sucked into a black hole. These superheroes are different people with different motivations and different abilities they are NOT Bran. Bran can only shift once a day, and the alternate form can only be in this dimension about five hours before they are shunted back out and Bran returns, like it or not. They can choose to return at any time (some are a bit cowardly or less than virtuous and might do so in great danger).

 

If Bran does not shift each day, there is a small chance he will shift anyway, while asleep. When this happens he changes into a different form, which can be ANYTHING and is not usually heroic. Bran so far is unaware of this particular aspect of his powers. He also tends to somehow attract the wierd and the supernatural, probably due to his nature as a portal. Bran is hunted by various extradimensional creatures not only because he collapsed the portal, but because he IS the portal now, and because he allows enemies of these creatures to act and be free - their hunteds become his hunteds. Some people recognize him as the man who shot Grant Warren on national television and are very unhappy with him and the police for letting him walk.

 

CAMPAIGN USE: The GM should find many opportunities for plot seeds and adventures in Bran's background as well as his powers. Since Bran has no control over what he becomes, the GM can choose what superhero shows up this adventure and can use his weaknesses (once per day, only a short time limit) to set up different quandries. Bran will tend to stay as a detective as much as he can because he doesn't like becoming a non entity while the hero is active.

 

APPEARANCE: Bran is a fairly handsome man with short white hair and greenish eyes. He does not stand out in a crowd physically but is noticable and memorable. The superheroes and other beings he becomes have their own appearances.

[Doc Samson]

Re: Bran MaCree, the Human Portal

 

I like him. Why stop at 16? Make it a Multiform VPP and you never have to play the same persona twice unless you want to.

[CTaylor]

Re: Bran MaCree, the Human Portal

 

Because 16 guys is enough until I get xps and double it to 32. And really, how many character sheets do I want to make? For all practical purposes at this point he's got an infinite number of characters he can become and the cost is significantly lower this way.

 

I think he'd be fun to play, especially because in Champions I keep wanting to make a new character - I don't get bored with the old one, I just have new ideas. Plus there's so much for the GM to work with its sick.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Bran MaCree, the Human Portal

 

But what is his motivation? What drives him?

 

Just solving puzzles? An interesting start.... but that is ultimately an empty life to live. I'd be interested in seeing him struggle through a romantic/identity story arc.

[CTaylor]

Re: Bran MaCree, the Human Portal

 

That's up to the GM. He's a detective with a troubled past, what happens in the world around him isn't up to him, it's up to the story arc. If Bran had his way he'd just spend his time solving mysteries, figuring things out and being left alone. Sadly, his work and his past, and especially his nature as a portal doesn't let him do that.

 

Bran himself is not a hero. He's a guy who summons other heroes when he can't handle something on his own. He doesn't look for trouble, he doesn't even want to be a hero. He's the guy the party might hire or work with because he's such a good detective and has such great contacts (sadly none of which made the transfer from Hero Designer to text). In the process he gets in over his head sometimes. Heck he might even be the mystery at some point (where does that monster come from? You, pal.