Pranking Speedster with Seizures

[Uthanar]

The following is post about a character in development as a PC for a game that I am running. As I am the most knowledgeable person about the Hero system I'm in charge of getting characters from creative thought and onto a character sheet, which seems pretty cool to me since I would rather have my players worrying about the creative aspects of their characters than about the minutia of the system ATM.

 

I would love any insight or advise that people would like to share on how to represent these characters properly, because while I understand the system decently, I know that I am merely a fly among giants here. Ideas on the system and on the character itself are welcome, I will pass along thoughts about characters to the respective player to see if they would like to incorporate things into their character or not.

 

My campaign group did their first session yesterday for the Champions game that we are starting. Some basic information about the game can be found in this other thread that I started about it http://www.herogames.com/forums/show...75#post1892375.

 

The first session that we did was systemless, I had people sit down at the table and think about a teenager that they would like to play, and asked them to get a good image of the teen in their minds to start with. Then I told them that it would be in the Marvelverse and their characters would be burgeoning mutants, and that they were welcome to change the teenager image that they had in their mind if they wanted to.

 

The group worked on the character ideas that we had of the individual members, and wrote down things that are important to the characters. We didn't bother going to the Hero System rules to actually make the characters, but instead just had the idea of what each of the characters would be good at. The game is taking place at the beginning of the 80s.

 

The campaign is starting as these people are just starting to manifest their mutant powers and have very little control over them comparatively. I have not set a specific point allotment for each of the characters yet, as I'm trying to figure out what points are needed to truly represent the character as they are. I'm hoping to get help with anything that I might need help with from the clever and wonderful folks on the boards.

 

The player's thoughts for the character are that he has lived on the border of a ghetto area and a decent suburban neighborhood, the kind of place that parents live in to get their kids into the right school district.

 

Josue is a Hispanic American brought up in Southern California by a hard working mother, and a drunk of a father. He has learned to use humor to cope with the world around him, and is just going through puberty at this time. Since childhood Josue has had problems with seizures, and while they are becoming less frequent as he grows older, they are also growing more severe.

 

Josue is looking to have some speed based powers, and can move fast at times. While he didn't think that his character would be anywhere near the speed of the young kid in the Incredibles movie, he did think that some of the pranks would be appropriate for him. I don't remember the movie that well ATM (should probably Flix it again), but maybe those reading it will be helped by the reference.

 

ATM we are thinking that his speed isn't kicking in unless he has some sort of plan formulated on how to use it (based on discussion with the player). But once he does figure out a plan of action he is able to kick in at high speeds. This would need a bit more of a system representation, Activation roll when having a plan is something that I thought of, but not sure if other folks might have other ideas. As the Speed isn't always on I was wondering if it should run as Characteristics with the problem, or as an Aid that can only be activated when having a plan. The Aid gives the benefit that he doesn't really know how fast he does get to go before coming up with his course of action.

 

Josue as a prankster is able to put a few things together into a crazy working system. In the first game for instance he was at the mall and wanted to trip a popular kid into the fountain. He waited until he saw a jock come down the escalator and then leaped into action (his speed increasing without him really thinking about it, or noticing it). He ran to the bottom of the escalator and tied some fishing line, picked up the "Wet Floor" sign so there was no warning, and slide a garbage can into the path of his victim. The end result was the jock getting off the escalator and stumbling over the fishing line, into the wet floor, sliding across the floor, hitting the garbage can to make him trip, and finally into the fountain. He looked at it like a Rube Goldberg machine kind of thing, or the ridiculous MacGyver stories ("MacGyver can take this pinecone, silly string, and duct tape and make a bomb"). For this I have been trying to figure out a way to put it together. I came up with some complex ideas on a VPP, but I think that the Luck Power might be a better representation of this.

 

At this point we aren't certain if doing this has anything to do with his power or not, or if he is just able to put this stuff together to amuse himself. These things won't advance past simple things like this because we also have a character who is very big into the mechanical/electrical (and later biological/molecular) manipulation.

 

The player had two other thoughts on his character's power suite. One of them was that he would have some sort of Telekinesis. I think this is because of his desire to be a prankster, and TK seems like a pretty useful ability to have. He couldn't figure out a link between the speed and the TK thoughts though, and so didn't really pursue it.

 

On the way home from the first session though he made mention of perhaps having some sort of time based powers. That to me made the whole character open up in potential. Time based powers could explain his super speed and give some very good thoughts on his seizures. They also open up a lot of story ideas based on the relation of time manipulation to how time works.

 

So to sum this up, I'm looking for insights on the character both in relation to the system and the character. Any ideas that do come up on the board I will pass along to the player to see if he takes interest with them or not. I would love to hear thoughts on the specifics of how his mutation works (any of the three proposed, or others), thoughts on his random cause and effect devices, and things that folks might propose to be in his power suite.

 

Thanks for any thoughts, and happy gaming.

Uthanar

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Pranking Speedster with Seizures

 

ATM we are thinking that his speed isn't kicking in unless he has some sort of plan formulated on how to use it (based on discussion with the player). But once he does figure out a plan of action he is able to kick in at high speeds. This would need a bit more of a system representation, Activation roll when having a plan is something that I thought of, but not sure if other folks might have other ideas. As the Speed isn't always on I was wondering if it should run as Characteristics with the problem, or as an Aid that can only be activated when having a plan. The Aid gives the benefit that he doesn't really know how fast he does get to go before coming up with his course of action.

 

 

Here are a few power builds that pop to mind for this type of speedster sfx:

Teleport UAA AOE

Change Environment

Overall Levels w/Cost END (3 can be used to do tasks 1 level down the Time Chart)

Enter the Speed Zone (a special form of EDM)

 

HM

[Ice9]

Re: Pranking Speedster with Seizures

 

For the "faster during a plan", I could see a couple ways of doing it (here I'm assuming a normal speed of 3 and a boosted speed of 6):

 

Time Compression - +3 SPD, One Continuing (1 minute), Recoverable (automatically recovers after 2 minutes) Charge.

This would let him accelerate to high-speed for a minute, but then he'd have to "rest" at normal speed for a couple minutes before using it again. While not directly linked to planning, this would encourage figuring out what to do in advance.

 

Acts Fast, Thinks Less Fast - +3 SPD, Only when following plan.

The direct approach - he still thinks at normal speed while moving at high-speed, so he needs to know what he's going to do in advance. I'd put the limitation value between -1/2 and -1, depending on how flexible he could be while executing the plan. If you want the planning to take time, add Extra Time and RSR to activate.

 

 

As for instant action, you could try something like this:

 

Act Between Seconds; all slots Unified Power (-1/4), Requires Path (-1), Virtual Rounds (three; -1)

1) Move - Teleport 18", Position Shift

2) Look - Clairvoyance (Sight), Linked (Move)

3) Act - Telekinesis (10 STR), Fine Manipulation, AoE Hex (Selective), Megascale (1"=1km), Linked (Move)

4) Reposition - Teleport 6", Usable as Attack, Autofire x3, Linked (Move)

 

NOTES:

* This is set up to cover approximately three rounds of virtual time (assuming Running 6" and STR 10, adjust accordingly otherwise). It's not a power framework, just a list. Activating it would be a half-phase action, or full-phase if you use Reposition.

* Requires Path is a custom limitation, representing that the normally-indirect powers can only be used in ways that would be possible to someone who was actually moving around and picking things up. So for instance, you could open a door (with TK), look inside the newly-opened room (with Clairvoyance), and move a chair from inside it outside (with Teleport UaA). But you couldn't Teleport through cell bars, use Clairvoyance into a sealed vault, or use TK to grab a key from on top of a tall tree or out of a vat of acid.

* Virtual Rounds is another custom limitation, representing that you can't just use all the abilities at full power - what you do must be achievable within three rounds of virtual actions. So if you want to grab your buddy and carry him 18" away from the pending explosion, you couldn't also scout around the corner, punch the villain, grab a key from across the room, and climb up onto the roof - even if those would all be possible separately.

* Because of the way I did the TK, you can only punch an individual person once (although you can punch as many different people as your Virtual Rounds allow). If you want to hit someone repeatedly, add Autofire to it.

* I didn't add up the cost, because I'm lazy (and don't have my books with me). But I think it's on the order of 140 active, 40 real.

 

 

It's a strong power, but not as crazy as the AP might imply - you probably won't wreak that much havoc with it. However, if you want to get crazy, add this to it:

Use Things - Naked Advantage (Trigger, Ranged, and Autofire x3), for any handheld device up to 60 AP (the Trigger is activating Act Between Seconds). Now you can handcuff people or stuff live grenades in their pockets while you're time-stopped.

[AnotherSkip]

Re: Pranking Speedster with Seizures

 

Depending upon how many points you wish to put into it....

 

Change Environment: 8" area, -8 to Dex rolls or failing character falls down, OIF (Objects of opportunity, -1/2), RSR (Mechanics, -1/2),

 

 

if you put it in to a multipower with Speed that costs end....

 

Options Would be

IPE (moves so fast cannot be seen performing actions)

a Linked Drain Pre, Humiliation: 3d6 Drain, 1 Hex (+1/4), Selective (+1/4), Ranged (+1/2) OIF (People of opportunity, -1/2) Linked (-1/2)

[Uthanar]

Re: Pranking Speedster with Seizures

 

Was talking to the player about his character and he had some more thoughts on things.

 

He was thinking that his character was able to see into the future. Whenever he starts zoning out because he is bored he starts to see into the future, but he can't control the when of what is going on. As time passes he begins to see things going faster and faster, kinda like life is in fast forward and he has no control over it. If things start going too fast is when his seizures kick in.

 

I'm thinking that this might be more of a side effect than a real power a lot of the time. It can be a real pain to deal with future sight, but can be a fun tool too. However, he was thinking that his speed and requirement of having a plan comes from the fact that when he sees into the future he can snap back to the present and make use of the information that he saw.

 

So the player seems to be going in a more temporal thought for the character. We are figuring a NCC Precognition for his character would be a good representation of the power, with some limits on it.

 

Figured I would post an update and do some work on it from there. Thanks for the replies I have gotten so far.

 

Happy gaming.

Uthanar