Limitation on Hourman

[GenreFiend]

I was thinking of doing a character based on DC Comics' Hourman character. For those of you not familiar with him, Rex Tyler took a formula of his own devising called Miraclo, which gave him super-human strength, speed, stamina, senses, and toughness. All for exactly one hour. He could only take the pill once a day.

So, all powers usuable for only 1 hour from time of activation. Can only be activated once per day. What level of limitation would you, as a GM, give that? 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, or more? Just curious.

[OddHat]

Just buy everything with one continuing charge of 1 hour, plus maybe IIF: Miraclo Pill.

[Blue Jogger]

Yeah, but what do you do for those other 23 hours?

[OddHat]

Originally posted by Blue Jogger

Yeah, but what do you do for those other 23 hours?

 

Every team needs a hostage.

[Lord Liaden]

Not at all an unplayable concept. You just need to build your character with enough versatility to be useful in various non-combat situations, and enough competence in a fight to enable him to survive those other 23 hours. The boost in his abilities can come during the climactic confrontation with the menace of a particular scenario. Estimating the optimum time to pop the pill could be an interesting tactical challenge.

 

Personally, I'd go with two or three uses in a day, though.

[pinecone]

Basicly the lim is based on how often it comes up...an hour is an eternity in combat phases and a blink in noncombat time....I'd build him as a skill monger so you can shine in noncombat and either multiform or naked stat the "Hour of buffness!"...or just buy seduction up to 18 or less and grin a lot when people ask why you call yourself "Hour-man"...

[assault]

Originally posted by pinecone

Basicly the lim is based on how often it comes up...an hour is an eternity in combat phases and a blink in noncombat time....I'd build him as a skill monger so you can shine in noncombat and either multiform or naked stat the "Hour of buffness!"...or just buy seduction up to 18 or less and grin a lot when people ask why you call yourself "Hour-man"...

 

Yeah, I'd build him as a skill-monger to keep him useful the rest of the time. Unfortunately, the actual character doesn't seem all that impressive in this respect. He's enough of a chemist to have invented Miraclo, and enough of a detective to operate solo, but he doesn't seem particularly impressive. This wouldn't necessarily apply to a Champions "homage", of course.

 

I'm not sure that he can only activate his powers once a day. I have a vague memory that he can pop another pill an hour after his previous one wears off, but that is quite likely a Roy Thomas retcon. Another retcon, of course, is his addiction to Miraclo. In the Golden Age, he could just enjoy super-steroids in moderation.

 

This character has a lot of very obvious handles on him. For that reason, no GM would ever be offended by him, and his hour of power is impressive enough that he would be cool to play. He would be cheap to build, and frankly would make an excellent PC all round.

 

But of course, I would play a homage, rather than a literal translation.

 

Alan

[Pattern Ghost]

I'd go with the stat boost built with X Continuing 1 hour charges and Gestures to represent taking the pills. Generally, potions and such could be built with consumable OAFs, but since he has a steady supply of the pills, the focus option would probably be inappropriate (also, can't "disarm" or remvoe the boost by getting rid of the pill once taken.)

 

Though, instead of doing an Hour man, you might want to do Minute Man (insert juvenile crack about the ladies not liking him as much here), and have several charges a day. You get less time on the charge, but most combats are pretty short anyway, and you don't have as much worry about timing. For a time delay between taking the pills, I'd say a -1/4 custom limitation is probably in order. I wouldn't go higher than that if the charges last long enough for an average combat, though, since it's not a huge limitation most of the time. (Not too many cases of back to back major combats in game due to the length of combats.)

[Hugh Neilson]

Originally posted by assault

I'm not sure that he can only activate his powers once a day. I have a vague memory that he can pop another pill an hour after his previous one wears off, but that is quite likely a Roy Thomas retcon. Another retcon, of course, is his addiction to Miraclo. In the Golden Age, he could just enjoy super-steroids in moderation.

 

I believe the golden age character had to wait an hour before taking another pill, consistent with your comments.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Another note

 

IIRC, Miraclo turned out to be an addictive drug that did long-term damage to Rex tyler's health to the point that his doctors advised him to stop taking it.

 

One way to balance the power of the pill in a homage is to add a STUN drain so that when the hours is up, the character is completely exhausted until he spends some phases on recovery.

 

An hour can reflect an entire combat and then some, but if you can only use it in one of many comabts during an adventure it bomecomesd a serious tactical challenge. maybe the ingredients of Miraclo are so expensive or difficult to obtain that you can only carry one pill at a time and have to manufacture another one between adventures, and it becomes impossible to stockpile a mass of miraclo pills for emergencies.

 

Keep in mind also that the bad guys are also going to want the forumula for Miraclo -- even if it is dangerous in the long-term,most suervillains don;t care about their health or the health of their henchmen).

 

Even worse -- make Miraclo addictive or make it cause a psychological high effect. Every organized crime kingpin in the world will want to formula so they can manfuacture it as the hot new street drug.

[assault]

Re: Another note

 

Originally posted by Michael Hopcroft

IIRC, Miraclo turned out to be an addictive drug that did long-term damage to Rex tyler's health to the point that his doctors advised him to stop taking it.

 

This is true, but is a piece of Bronze Age retrocontinuity.

 

In the Golden Age, it didn't happen.

 

Either version can be used.

 

Alan

[GenreFiend]

Some responses

 

Originally posted by pinecone

Basicly the lim is based on how often it comes up...an hour is an eternity in combat phases and a blink in noncombat time....I'd build him as a skill monger so you can shine in noncombat and either multiform or naked stat the "Hour of buffness!"...or just buy seduction up to 18 or less and grin a lot when people ask why you call yourself "Hour-man"...

LOL:D

OK, I was thinking more of an homage than a straight write-up. That having been said, here are some things I know about Hourman (as set down in current DC Continuity):

The original Miraclo formula was addictive, and could be taken 1 hour after the previous dose had worn off. Rex then re-engineered the pill into a non-addictive formula which would only work once a day.

The formula only works for someone with a close match to Rex's DNA (such as his son, the current Hourman).

When to "pop" was always a major consideration in Hourman's planning.

 

I was thinking my homage would probably be the brain of the group, with some combat skills, and the "hour of power" when needed. I might enable him to go super more than once a day, but I think the challenge of figuring when to "power-up" could be fun ("I could take down three of these Viper agents without my powers, but we're facing 5 each! I could pop now, but what's waiting on us at the end of this corridor?"). Plus, with 350 points and a big limitation on all my powers, I could probably do a lot more than old Rex ever could.

[assault]

Re: Some responses

 

Originally posted by GenreFiend

Plus, with 350 points and a big limitation on all my powers, I could probably do a lot more than old Rex ever could.

 

Yep.

 

I always thought it was cool that Miraclo made him bulletproof.

 

I figure the limitation would be more severe than Captain Miracle's one. If CM was a standard OIHID, Rex would get something better.

 

Then again, Rex in normal mode was a lot more useful than Billy Batson.

 

As for your homage it would be fair to suggest that he could be as good a brawler as any other good old red-blooded-American-in-a costume. That is, he could potentially fight as well as a low-end gadgeteer/martial artist. In fact, that is precisely what he is - Miraclo is a gadget.

 

Incidentally, there are a couple of similar kinds of characters around. DC's Hawk and Dove both had powers that cut in "in the presence of injustice", and cut out again automatically once it was over. Funnily enough, they seem to have managed to sustain secret identities... Building a character whose powers are OIHID, and can only be activated when the GM says so is a little - brave - in my opinion.

 

Another interesting one can be found here: http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/nitefite.htm

 

Alan

[Killer Shrike]

I didnt read thru all the posts bcs Im in a time crunch, but off hand it sounds like a Multiform bought w/ 1 continuing charge lasting 1 hour.

 

Then the juiced form, taking advantage of the 5th Ed version of Multiform, could be one serious bad ass, with a point total above the standard for the campaign. This would compensate for his normalcy and make him valuable to a supers group -- bcs when he's on, he's REALLY ON.

 

His normal form could be the team scientist/thinker. So a skill guy and possibly an odd sort of gadgeteer. He made the hourman formula afterall, maybe he's got other bio-chemical "gadgets" up his sleeve, like sleep grenades, gas weapons, stim packs, and what have you.

 

In a more Iron Aged campaign, considering the nature of his Hourman formula, maybe he specializes in "Performance Enhancers", Aids & Succors usable on others. That would also make him useful to a party of supers -- he can buff them up too.

 

If he has some extra points left over, a base w/ a lab and maybe a vehicle (so he can get around in normal form) would round him out into a really formidable character.

 

This whole idea is actually really interesting.........hmm.........{gears turning}.......