Young Scratch

[Matt the Bruins]

Since most of my existing characters are pretty specific to the games they originated in and would take a lot of background revamping to transplant to a new game, I thought I'd make a character with a more generic background that could be used for impromptu convention games and whatnot.

 

My idea was to do a version of the "spawn of the Devil" concept, somewhere in the middle ground of seriousness between Son of Satan and Little Nicky. Basic concept is that the kid of one of the big demon lords is going through a rebellious phase, and during an emo sulk decided to come to earth and fight evil as a way of demonstrating independence from his father. So he'll exorcise other demons, break up cults, and help heroes fight super-villains while maintaining the surly attitude of a teenager who's swiped the keys to Dad's sports car for a joyride after being grounded.

 

Any suggestions, criticism, or comments about this build? (It's 5th edition revised, as it will be a while before I can scrape the cash together to buy 6th.)

[Lucius]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Just one question - why buy an Energy Blast, BOECV, rather than a straight Mental Blast?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary adds that it's an interesting character concept.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Just a stylistic choice since it's gouts of mystical flame that have an effect on the psyche rather than the body. It was the same cost as a straightforward Ego Attack of the same dice with the same limitations, if my math was correct.

[DusterBoy]

Re: Young Scratch

 

He needs some friends to balance out all his hunteds

 

It's a good write-up, elsewise.

[JmOz]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Character seems interesting, I would (And this is the point crunching munchkin in me) Get rid of the EC and put those powers in him MP, in play there will be very little difference (Probably not even noticable honestly)

[Ice9]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Diabolic Gate could go in the Multipower, but not Born of Fire, unless you want it to shut off when he attacks. At that point, you don't need an EC any more though.

 

Incidentally, does -1 seem low for Only vs Fire to anyone else? It seems like you should separately be able to get "Can't Pass Through Solid Objects". And even then, I doubt half of all damage in a Champions game is going to be fire-based; -1 seems more like Only vs Energy. Personally I'd put it around -2, plus whatever you get for CPTSO.

[Sunderspirit]

Re: Young Scratch

 

If you use your Desolid, and want to attack, you still have the problem of needing +2 affects the real world on your attacks (technically), it is at least something you should talk to the game master about.

 

Buy up your STR to 18 and CON to 28, the Str and Con increase will cost you nothing (assuming you keep the figured characteristics the same) and raise your stun by 2.

 

(nitpick)Gestures and Incantation are generally not for Superheroic games, -1/2 Restrainable is less descriptive, but according to the rules, more appropriate.

 

Seriously consider moving your EC into your Multipower, Non-combat movement and your desolidification are really not compatable with attacking which is what your Multipower consists of, unless you intend to use your damage shield while extradimensionally moving.

[Ice9]

Re: Young Scratch

 

There's a special case with Desolidification, where - with GM permission - you can be desolid versus a specific limited thing (like fire) without "actually" being desolid or needing "Affects Physical World" on your attacks.

 

The alternative would be to buy a lot of ED, only vs Fire, and have the GM apply the "absolute effect" rule.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Young Scratch

 

And here's the 6th Edition conversion.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]36015[/ATTACH]

[AlHazred]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Very nice! Kind of Silver-Agey!

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Here's an updated version where I've shaved off a point of INT to buy the Infernal Comet slot for his multipower. (For a visual, think of those flaming streamers from the big explosion near the start of Cloverfield.) I figure landing in a burst of flame that ignites anything flammable near the target point fits the "hellfire attacks" theme of the multipower even if it's not primarily used for its offensive aspects.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37080[/ATTACH]

[DusterBoy]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Here's an updated version where I've shaved off a point of INT to buy the Infernal Comet slot for his multipower. (For a visual' date=' think of those flaming streamers from the big explosion near the start of [i']Cloverfield[/i].) I figure landing in a burst of flame that ignites anything flammable near the target point fits the "hellfire attacks" theme of the multipower even if it's not primarily used for its offensive aspects.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37080[/ATTACH]

 

I now have this image of a White Phosophorous grenade cooking off and burning everything in sight - including people.

[Black Ops]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Could we have a bit more backround to apprecite it better ?

[Fireg0lem]

Re: Young Scratch

 

The 6th edition version has OMCV 7 and no attacks that use OMCV (the BOECV attack became AVAD, which doesn't affect CVs at all).

 

Both versions can't do anything at all about being grabbed or silenced. I would consider moving the XDM into the multipower and putting something he can do, even if it's less powerful, when grabbed or silenced.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Thanks, good catch about the OMCV. I think when I first adapted him I may have been thinking it might still be useful in tests of will with an attacking Mentalist, but I suppose DMCV would be the appropriate value to use there.

 

The lack of workarounds regarding being restrained or muzzled is intentional though. I don't want the character to be unstoppable (for values of unstoppable that would apply within his Active Point limits), as he's relatively inexperienced and hasn't developed the full range of utility for his diabolic powers. This is supposed to be someone who can burn his way through a steel door or brick wall, yet be rendered harmless by a beat cop snapping handcuffs on him.

[Matt Holck]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Born off Fire wouldn't allow him to use attacks anyway since he's desolid

However, he could get "Affects Real World" +2 on his Soul Fire

3d6=15 base + 2 Affects Real World + 1 Based on Ego =15+3(300%)=60

 

If the Soul Fire Where a straight Ego Bolt,

he could only afford 2d6 Affects real world

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Young Scratch

 

See Ice9's post #8 above. The character's not actually intangible, I've used the variant form of Desolidification to model being invulnerable to fire and heat. I'd have to get GM approval for that in any game I bring him into, of course.

 

I've looked through the sample characters in the 6th Ed rules, and every one of them has OMCV and DMCV at the same value (and most of them at the value you'd have derived from their EGO in 5th Ed). I definitely want his DMCV to be that high to indicate how psychically slippery a demon's mind should be. I'll hold off finalizing until I buy the assorted Villains books and can compare to somewhat similar characters, but in the end I'll either keep OMCV where it is or reduce it to starting value and use the points to buy a limited form of Universal Translator in place of his Language skill.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Hey gang, I've refined my Young Scratch character some more (now with new illustration, and background actually committed to print!) and have two versions, one using a Multipower and another with a VPP for most of his active powers. Any thoughts on which version I should use moving forward, or about these builds in general?

 

Version A:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41112[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]41113[/ATTACH]

 

Version B:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41114[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]41115[/ATTACH]

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Young Scratch

 

I like the VPP version better. If you go that route I would strongly suggest putting a tighter limit on what powers it can be used for. That removes the temptation common to having a VPP: "I can create ANY power if I can justify it within the sfx". I also noticed that you used the Unified Power Limitation on a couple of powers on the Multipower version but not the Multipower itself?! I would probably use it for for all the 'learned' abilities (especially the frameworks) as it would allow an appropriate sfx Drain or Suppress to work against all those abilities. Of course it's only worth a Limitation if it's going to come into play during the campaign.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Looks Good Matt. Can I ask if you used HD for the character pages and if so, what export template.

If not, did you make that sheet? it's real sweet.

[phoenix240]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Cool write up and I love the artwork

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Young Scratch

 

I like the VPP version better. If you go that route I would strongly suggest putting a tighter limit on what powers it can be used for. That removes the temptation common to having a VPP: "I can create ANY power if I can justify it within the sfx".

My concept is that the VPP isn't so much limited in which powers are available as in how they're used, so he'd have a broad range of abilities but they all need to have some demonic or at least sinister aspect. Sort of like how Dr. Yin Wu can do almost anything, but it needs to be executed in the style of traditional Chinese Sorcery. (So, no Mental Transforms to reform a villain's character or Summoning kittens and puppies to calm Grond down.)

 

I also noticed that you used the Unified Power Limitation on a couple of powers on the Multipower version but not the Multipower itself?! I would probably use it for for all the 'learned' abilities (especially the frameworks) as it would allow an appropriate sfx Drain or Suppress to work against all those abilities. Of course it's only worth a Limitation if it's going to come into play during the campaign.

I don't know, that would feel like double-dipping to me. I don't normally use Unified Power on slots in a framework unless it's for a combined power that takes up a single slot.

 

 

Looks Good Matt. Can I ask if you used HD for the character pages and if so, what export template.

If not, did you make that sheet? it's real sweet.

I built the sheets in Adobe InDesign based on measurements from the published 6th Ed. books, with the kind help of Fred Hicks for identifying the fonts used. I'm a graphic designer by trade, which comes in handy when you want to get fancy with the character sheets and such.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Young Scratch

 

re: Unified Power & Frameworks

 

In 6e and even 5e/5er IF a slot in a framework was affected by a negative adjustment power THEN only that slot was affected. The Reserve/Pool and the rest of the slots ignore the adjustment power unless it was purchased with an advantage increasing the number of powers it affected. So unless the adjustment power has a near crippling amount of Advantages or the target power has the Unified Power Limitation, only the initially targeted power is negatively adjusted. So in the case of a power in a VPP without Unified being targeted by a Drain without any Advantages the overall effect would be negligible since the VPP owner has a nearly infinite choice of other powers to replace the drained one with. The Multipower user just has 1 slot affected so it all depends on how many other slots they have left.

 

Again, this is not really an issue unless Negative adjustment powers (and Mimic characters like Rogue and Parasite) are likely to make an appearance in your game.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Young Scratch

 

I built the sheets in Adobe InDesign based on measurements from the published 6th Ed. books, with the kind help of Fred Hicks for identifying the fonts used. I'm a graphic designer by trade, which comes in handy when you want to get fancy with the character sheets and such.

 

Nice! So you have a template then for InDesign? How long does it take to fill one in?

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Young Scratch

 

Well, strictly speaking I don't have a template for the character sheet layout as it currently appears in Champions, Champions Villains, etc. I made one based on the sample character pages in the Basic Rulebook back when (the ones with the blue coloring and more narrow columns), updated to the yellow-orange/wider column look for one of my characters when I had those books to work from, and then have just saved a copy of the file and keyed in the replacement text for the new character each time. Hard to say how long it takes since I tend to tinker with character builds quite a bit as an ongoing process - I've never just sat down to type in everything from an already complete handwritten page or whatever.