Yellow Jacket

[Beazulbob]

Yellow Jacket is in need of some feedback.

Some problems: not enough skills. At a loss as to what skills a 21 year old retail/security guard would have.

Rename the MP: I do not like the temporary name I've given it (Bug Offense).

Worried that the background is too boring.

Looking for suggestions on powers to modify/improve/better fit the concept.

Would you allow him in your game? Too powerful/too weak/just right.

Comments in general.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]43742[/ATTACH]

[Beazulbob]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Background: Larry Perkins was born in a bath of blood – his mother didn’t survive his brutal birth. His father couldn’t get past thinking his son killed his wife, so Larry was put up for adoption. Unaware of his origin, he grew up desperate for attention; scaring away prospective parents with his intensity and a hard to define feeling of being ‘off’. He left his foster parents home at 18, still without family.

Living alone in a cramped studio apartment, he made his living working retail and security. Not having many friends, he spent the majority of his time at his hobby, caving and spelunking. It was during one such daylong sojourn that he fell down a steep talus slope and into a lower section of a cave. Unable to climb out, and with no one aware he was caving, he knew he was in trouble. He searched the cave but found no means of egress. He settled in for the night. The next day he searched again, and again tried to climb the slope – to no avail. Now out of water, Larry began to panic. The next morning he found himself outside the cave, following a night of strange dreams. Unsure how he escaped, he vowed never to go caving again without alerting someone as to where he was going.

The dreams continued every night; in some he was tiny, in others he flew through the air. Finally, he woke up one morning, shrunken down in size and covered with blankets with the world looking off. He struggled in the sheets when suddenly he reverted back to normal size. Nonplussed, the world still looked strange. The coloring was off and he was seeing too much. He ran to the mirror and beheld his compound eyes. While staring into the mirror at his visage, he shrunk again, though this time he stayed at the same height – using the wings that sprouted from his back. He called in sick that day.

Larry practiced his strange new powers while ‘sick’, watching daytime TV during his breaks. He watched a show about heroes and villains - I’m one of them now, he thought. Not a new concern, he had new reasons to wonder who his parents were. That weekend, while working security at a closed down mall, he witnessed a car-jacking take place. Running towards the car, he switched to his alternate identity without thinking about it, shrinking as he went. When he got to the car, he released a swarm of stingers at the car-jacker, knocking him out and inflicting serious injury. The carjacking victim was still on the ground, holding her head and watching the whole thing with horror. Larry flew back to his post and returned back to normal, hoping he hadn’t killed the crook.

A news report that night mentioned a new hero or vigilante, they were unsure at that point, who stopped a car-jacking. The crook survived and was taken to jail and the lady he rescued had a message of thanks for her rescuer. Larry was hooked. That week, he put together a costume and began patrolling the streets in his spare time.

 

Personality: Yellow Jacket never really considered being a villain – his life experience had guided him away from that choice. He idealizes his parents as heroes and tries to live up to how he imagined them. He still has a hard time accepting that heroic parents would put him up for adoption – he tries out various excuses in the back of his mind. He has yet to be hit by a foe, so he is nervous to find out how tough he really is. One fear is being squashed, so he is particularly cautious around bricks and martial artists. He tends to trivialize his heroic efforts, downplaying what he does for fear of coming across as a boor. He hopes to join a group of heroes – gaining friends he can not seem to accomplish in his mundane life.

 

Power/Tactics: Yellow Jacket spends almost all of his hero time shrunken, with armor and wings expressed. He typically flies around his foes at 2-3 hexes up and at 3-5 hex distance away from his targets. He typically uses Tetrodotoxin near the end of a turn, and either necrotoxin or neurotoxin during the other phases. When faced with a group of foes, he prefers to start things off with his Urticating Bristols, and then follow it up with a swarm of stingers or necrotoxin. He uses his silk against focus using foes. Against an especially tough foe, he’ll blast them with Cytotoxin. His high speed and high endurance cost powers leaves him spending a phase or two every turn recovering.

[Shadow Hawk]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Wow.

In superhero ID (when shrunk) he's got a 16DCV* and a 25pd (14rpd). His attacks are just short of DC16. His OCV is 10, his speed is *8*! He hits hard, fast, and often, and he's hard to hit in return and hard to damage too...

I wouldn't allow him as is in my game. He's pushing the limits in more than one catagory.

 

*I just saw that he has martial dodge, so when he dodges it goes up to 21DCV.

[Beazulbob]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Yikes - I think I got carried away with him! He was initially a 250 character that I just scaled up to 350 for fun. I think I'll go back to the drawing board... In fact, I'd better check his 250 form to make sure that one isn't too powerful too. Sigh. I'll fix and repost him.

[Christopher]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Yikes - I think I got carried away with him! He was initially a 250 character that I just scaled up to 350 for fun. I think I'll go back to the drawing board... In fact' date=' I'd better check his 250 form to make sure that one isn't too powerful too. Sigh. I'll fix and repost him.[/quote']

My personal opinion about Shrinking, Growth and Density Icnrease is that they are Martial Artist/Brick powers with a Limitation. Those powers are good to make a "Ersatz" Brick/Martial Artist or if you want that Fighting Style to be a "Side Power", not his main shtick.

 

An interesting idea from 6E HSMA is "Morphocombat". A Martial Art whose maneuvers simulate the charater shape/size shifting. A Martial escape or Grab could be the Character transforming into a Snake. An Martial Escape could be him Shrinking out of it.

 

The ultimative escape trick is propably "Into the Microverse", wich is often best build as EDM.

EDM out of sight, then EDM back with yoru Shrinking at full power (to make you hard too see).

[wcw43921]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

To answer the skills question, my character Captain Wonder is a mall security guard in his civilian ID. I gave him these skills for the job:

 

5 AK: Shopping Mall 15- (Because you should know all the exits and hiding places)

 

7 Concealment 15- (Useful in spotting where the shoplifter hid the merchandise)

 

3 PS: Mall Security 13- (Covers almost everything not covered by other skills)

 

3 Shadowing 13- (For following shoplifters and troublemakers without their noticing)

 

Hope that helps.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Skills are so campaign context sensitive. A 15- by the book is somewhere between a "master of the skill" and "one of the best people in the world with that Skill", which seems pretty high for a mall cop's concealment skill. But a 15- is also a pretty common level of skill in a Supers game, and a skill lower than 13- (somewhere between well versed and a master) is pretty rare.

 

I would have thought mall security could be pretty easily covered by everyman skills myself, although the character seems to have gone with cave exploration instead. But I see a wide variance of Skills between Supers characters - some just don't cry out for a ton of skills. Mind you, I don't envision a lot of mall cops being trained in Judo either.

[Christopher]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Skills are so campaign context sensitive. A 15- by the book is somewhere between a "master of the skill" and "one of the best people in the world with that Skill"' date=' which seems pretty high for a mall cop's concealment skill. But a 15- is also a pretty common level of skill in a Supers game, and a skill lower than 13- (somewhere between well versed and a master) is pretty rare.[/quote']

I on the other hand see many Super Campaigns where 11- or 12- in Skills is the norm. 14- or 15- are rare and quite often archieved with extra Characteristics in a Multipower.

 

 

The free PS you recieve can be enough to do the job.

Concealment and Shadowing are good ideas.

 

I have little ideas myself, but then again "Mall Security" is a very non-descript line of work, with low pay and limited requirements. It could be that he had tried (and failed on) multiple other career paths before landing there.

He could have exposure to a lot of other skills, propably enough for a 8-. And if he invest his free time, he might have improved that Skill to a full Roll:

Security Systems, Lockpicking, Electronics, KS: Law, PS: Salesperson, PS: Logistician

Just think about what people aside from salespersons you have contact with in a Mall. All those are things he could have made previously or learned by doing it.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

I on the other hand see many Super Campaigns where 11- or 12- in Skills is the norm. 14- or 15- are rare and quite often archieved with extra Characteristics in a Multipower.

 

I see very few Supers with a DEX or PRE under 18. INT maybe.

[Beazulbob]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Ok - I've gone back to the 250 and brought him to 350 with an eye towards not maximizing everything (bad habit!). His MP did not get stronger, simply bought off a bunch of limitations. I also didn't increase his stats like I had on the earlier 350 version.

 

I've added some skills (37 points worth, not counting 3 levels with MP).

 

He works retail (I haven't figured out where yet) and as a security guard at a closed mall.

 

I still need a decent name for my 'bug offense MP'

 

I just realized, I need another 50 points in disadvantages too.

 

Argh.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Seems overly combat focused. His Speed is practically in 'speedster' schtick territory. Other than that, not bad.

[Beazulbob]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

The re-write is a 7 instead of 8 speed - but yeah, kind of a speedster. I imagined him flying circles around his target, zapping him left and right. Are his defenses too high for being a speedster? Also, I should get him (with xp), flight w/ no turn radius.

 

Missing from the speedster schtick is move by/through attacks and a high movement, instead just buzzing around at 18". I can't imagine him going too fast - what would you think would be the maximum flight speed for a human bug?

 

I was thinking about naming the MP Entomologics?

 

Oh - what do you mean too combat focused? Any suggestions?

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

That is a really cool character.

 

Nicely done.

 

QM

[Beazulbob]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Thank you, sir!

[Tom Cowan]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Nice hero

hmm, no enhanced smell or oder powers?

[Beazulbob]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Ohhh, I should buy some scent abilities. Any suggestions? I thought of ranged scent, perhaps even discriminatory. Could be weird and have targeting scent! Hmmm, that sounds good.

 

Also, 2 more abilities for MP when I get the xp!

Cantharidin (from the blister beetle): con drain

Catalytic enzymes (from the bombardier beetle): explosive cone flash with knockback

 

Now, being able to drain a dozen stats doesn't do much in combat. A single drain used repetively accomplishes more then uses a variety of drains on someone. I just like using a variety of poisons on the PC sheet. I'm trying to figure out if their is a better way to get variety without so much redundency.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

What about revising the poison to "any of a group of characteristics, one at a time"?

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

No Tyranid Abilities

 

No Casper Van Dien screaming "BUGS!" at the top of his voice.

 

QM

[Christopher]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Ohhh' date=' I should buy some scent abilities. Any suggestions? I thought of ranged scent, perhaps even discriminatory. Could be weird and have targeting scent! Hmmm, that sounds good.[/quote']

Smell is already Ranged (it suffers stronger Range penalties, however) and Discriminatory (the free, partial one for any Senses). It isn't targetting.

Tracking smell is common.

Anything to negate range penalties is a good idea.

[Beazulbob]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

What about revising the poison to "any of a group of characteristics' date=' one at a time"?[/quote']

 

Good idea! I've changed his hemotoxin to effect STR & CON at the same time. It wouldn't cost me more to make it any 2 stats at once. I think I'll limit it to Con & Str or End & Rec. The drain is 3d6 vs 4d6, but it will be worth it just to attack both stats at once. I am keeping the drain Dex & drain Spd seperate, as the high cost for each stat makes dropping even 25% of the drain too painful.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Watch out for that Persistent Shrinking, by the way. We had a character with that style of ability many games ago. Hit by an attack (likely an AoE) that took him to GM's option, he then realized he was knocked back a considerable distance. Which, as he remained Shrunken, begged the question how the rest of the team would locate his KO'd form - those PER penalties are pretty significant...

[Beazulbob]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

20 Questions

 

1. Parents?

Parents: unknown. Mother died at my birth, and my father blamed me – putting me up for adoption. The closest I have to parents are the foster parents who put me up for the final three years in the system. I left on amicable terms, but not at all close to them.

Campaign point – which parent did I inherit my abilities from?

 

2. Friends and siblings?

I had some friends at the orphanage, but as people got adopted or moved to foster homes, friendships became tenuous, then faded away entirely. I have no idea if I have any siblings. The closest friends I have are the fellow orphans from the foster home. It has been three years (I’m 21 now), and they have all either graduated out of state care or been adopted. I’m still friends with two of them, Charlene and Bruce. Neither of them were adopted either. Both live in the same city as me - I see them once or twice a month.

Campaign point – Charlene and Bruce are an item, and I’ve always had a crush on Charlene.

 

3. What sort of childhood did you have?

I had an alienated childhood. Something about me is just off, making it very difficult to make friends. With work, I managed to make it into groups of friends, but only on the periphery of the dynamics. I spent a lot of time at the library, YMCA, and taking extra electives to have fun. Learned Judo at the YMCA. I learned mimicry and ventriloquism through books on the subject and a single summer course. My interest in caving grew out of a single field trip to the local caves with my fellow orphans.

 

4. Role model(s)?

The real world super heroes – people who put their lives on the line to make the world a better place, inspire me. I hope to emulate them. He doesn’t have any personal heroes to model his civilian life on, he doesn’t have much contact with people to choose a role model.

 

5. What do you do for a living? Were you trained or have a mentor?

I work as a security guard (current post is at an out of business mall), and retail at a camping store. I learned Judo while at the YMCA and my powers developed naturally on their own. I have no mentor.

 

6. What are your ethical beliefs? Moral beliefs?

People should be free to do what they want so long as they don’t interfere with anyone else doing the same thing. There is a God, I’m just not sure of much about him (agnostic). I believe killing is terrible. The only people who deserve to get killed are killers. People are basically good.

 

7. Do you have any unusual habits or physical traits?

When nervous, he brushes his hair back. He shakes hands enthusiastically.

 

8. If you meet someone for the first time, what is your general reaction?

I am hopeful that I’ll make a friend, but nervous because I expect to be rejected.

 

9. How do you feel about killing? Do you have any true enemies?

I became opposed to killing from attending church (Lutheran) as a child. Combined with my favorite super hero’s code (comic book), I’ve never really questioned my position. I’d kill if failure to do so would get someone else killed, but he hopes to never come to that bridge.

 

10. Detail some of your relationships? Do you have any close friends? Any bitter rivals?

I’m friends with Charlene and Bruce, both from the orphanage. They are happily dating, something I’m glad for and jealous of. I have acquaintances at both jobs I’ve gone out to lunch or dinner with, but no close friends at either. My best friend is Daniel, a fellow I worked with at a temporary job (he is a permanent employee) at a phone sales company. We ‘hang out’ sporadically.

 

11. What sort of things do you have bad reactions to? Do you have any phobias or intense dislikes?

I don’t handle more then moderate criticism very well – I already feel judged, and it makes me feel attacked. I get angry but keep it bottled up. I avoid people who criticize me, going so far as to look for a new job, even if my current job is stable. I can not stand people eating with their mouths open.

 

12. How quickly can you learn to trust somebody? How fully do you trust people?

I can learn to trust people fairly quickly; I am an optimist and expect that most people are nice. Unless I have a reason not to, I’ll happily share personal information with friends and acquaintances and hope they feel comfortable enough to do the same. I do not loan people money.

 

13. Describe your physical appearance.

Just under 6’ tall, he has a well-developed physique and a light complexioned Caucasian. He stands straight, with wide shoulders and a chiseled jaw. He has large hands and feet. He has blond hair, kept short, and is clean-shaven. His eyes are hazel brown and empathic.

 

14. Do you have a daily routine? How do you handle interruptions and changes to it?

My security job is Saturday and Sunday mornings at 7am to 3pm. I work my retail job from 8am to 3 pm Monday through Thursday. Both jobs occasionally ask me to work extra hours, and I switch shifts with co-workers occasionally. My spare time is spent reading and caving. He is flexible to changes in his schedule.

 

15. Were you present for any major event in the world, historical or otherwise?

I wasn’t present for any major world events, though I’ve witnessed several crimes and watched a super hero capture some bank robbers.

 

16. Is your lineage, ancestry, or family name known for anything?

Not that I know of. My last name was changed when I was a child, so I don’t know my real last name, let alone its past history.

 

17. Where are you from?

I do not know, outside of the fact that I grew up in an orphanage and foster home.

 

18. What are your dreams and/or ambitions.

I have always wanted to go to college. I didn’t have the money to attend Jr. College, and working 52 hours a week doesn’t leave me much time. I’ve toyed with online courses, but the cost seems even higher. I’d like to get a steady girlfriend. I’d like to become a famous hero and have a large group of friends like they show on TV.

 

19. What are you doing to seek to obtain them?

I’m saving up money to pay for a quarter of school, though I haven’t figured out what major I’d like to pursue. I’m thinking of making my initial effort being education that could get me a better job then I have now – then I’d get paid more and have to work less hours. I’m hoping going to college will give me a better chance to meet girls. I’m stuck between cutting down on my hero hours to make school time available, and increasing my hours as a hero so that I can become famous. Until I have enough money to go to school, it doesn’t matter.

 

20. How do you feel about the women, marriage, and kids?

I’ve dated several women, but I find most of them alien to me in mindset. Priorities are very distant from mine and they seem to find me weird. I do try to be a gentleman, opening doors for them, but my low budget prevents me from taking them out for drinks or dinner. I’m hoping to meet girls with more in common with me. I’m not sure I want to get married – it would be nice to end the loneliness, but I’m afraid that given time I’d alienate them and the marriage would end in divorce – worse then never marrying. I do not want to have kids – at least not until I understand my own biology first.

[Beazulbob]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Watch out for that Persistent Shrinking' date=' by the way. We had a character with that style of ability many games ago. Hit by an attack (likely an AoE) that took him to GM's option, he then realized he was knocked back a considerable distance. Which, as he remained Shrunken, begged the question how the rest of the team would locate his KO'd form - those PER penalties are pretty significant...[/quote']

 

I don't have the budget yet to make my shrinking persistant - though when I do, I'll be much harder to find when I'm stunned. One thing I was thinking about was knockback resistance. Not that he's tough to blow back, but that he swirls in the air rather then flying back in a straight line. So KB Res with the limitation only to reduce distance to 1/3 (-1/2 or -1/4 ?). I also want to by some regeneration (insects regrow legs).

[Christopher]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

I don't have the budget yet to make my shrinking persistant - though when I do' date=' I'll be much harder to find when I'm stunned. One thing I was thinking about was knockback resistance. Not that he's tough to blow back, but that he swirls in the air rather then flying back in a straight line. So KB Res with the limitation only to reduce distance to 1/3 (-1/2 or -1/4 ?). I also want to by some regeneration (insects regrow legs).[/quote']

Is the tone of the campaign anywhere near that you expect to loose bodyparts? The few times superheroes do take lasting mutilation, it is a "radiation accident" that was pre-planned by the author/player.

 

If it is not likely to come up, just write it somewhere into the powers section of his sheet.

[Beazulbob]

Re: Yellow Jacket

 

Sadly, he is a character without a game. I'm hoping to use him in the next game I get into online. I don't expect I'll be torn asunder, but it's only 5-6 points in the EC - just not a high priority.