Beast Boy

[Christopher R Taylor]

When I built a similar character I did a power pool of multiforms (technically illegal but the GM let me have it), limited to animals of course.

[Opal]

10 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

Almost 7 years of thread necromancy...

 

Speaking of really old Champions! ideas, the original, like 1st ed, color cover, typwriter-faced, stapled, Champions! used a shapechanger as an example of the concept of Special Effects.  You have one slot with Growth F/X: turns into a giant gorrilla, another with flight F/X: turns into a giant (ie human-sized) eagle, etc... (at least, IIRC, after what, 40 years almost)

 

Think about everything a modern, or even c1989 Hero gamer would want to buy to simulate an eagle (rpen HKAp claws useable w/grab-by but AP HKAp beak useable vs grabbed enemy, telescopic vision, distinctive features, &IDKWA) or a gorrilla.    Nope, all just a 'special effect' back in  the day.    

 

Multiform and duplication came later, Champions III, maybe?  

[steriaca]

Well, yes. It is all about special effects. Yet Multiform exists. 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

Speaking of really old Champions! ideas, the original, like 1st ed, color cover, typwriter-faced, stapled, Champions! used a shapechanger as an example of the concept of Special Effects.  You have one slot with Growth F/X: turns into a giant gorrilla, another with flight F/X: turns into a giant (ie human-sized) eagle, etc... (at least, IIRC, after what, 40 years almost)

 

Yeah its a way of building stuff.  Most animals have really similar abilities and you don't actually need a full writeup for most; a wolf and a panther bite roughly the same, most animals have some sort of night vision and extra leaping or running, very keen sense of smell, etc.  You could get away with a 60 point multipower in most cases, unless you want to turn into something really outrageous like a dragon.

 

With the Zoo Boy character I made (golden age) he had a low cost multipower to represent partially manifesting animal powers: cat's eyes, bat ears, prehensile tail, etc.

[Tech]

On 7/25/2014 at 6:18 AM, steriaca said:

Beast Boy, like Rouge, is an expenses build to do. The Doom Patrol/Teen Titans member has a power which works well for comic books, but hard to write up for roleplaying.

Rouge or Rogue (X-men)?

 

 

My brother tried a shapeshifter like Beast Boy. The character didn't last long. A Multipower can be made larger over time but you need to ask yourself, "What will I do with my XP gained after 100 pts, 200 pts, etc"  A multipower properly done can grant you enough powers so you don't need anything else to buy. You end up saying "what do I do with my points?".

However, many years later, he tried another one but with Multiform. That one's lasting. It's not a pain to create each form; it's fun!

[steriaca]

33 minutes ago, Tech said:

Rouge or Rogue (X-men)?

Rogue from the X-Men.

33 minutes ago, Tech said:

 

My brother tried a shapeshifter like Beast Boy. The character didn't last long. A Multipower can be made larger over time but you need to ask yourself, "What will I do with my XP gained after 100 pts, 200 pts, etc"  A multipower properly done can grant you enough powers so you don't need anything else to buy. You end up saying "what do I do with my points?".

However, many years later, he tried another one but with Multiform. That one's lasting. It's not a pain to create each form; it's fun!

Good to know.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

 

A multipower properly done can grant you enough powers so you don't need anything else to buy. You end up saying "what do I do with my points?".

 

 

Yeah, I mean you can start to peel out powers to be available at any time (start mixing things: a lion with bat ears, a cat with wings, etc) but I do know what he means.  Some builds are so tight and complete that its difficult to build on any more.

I stumbled on a character long ago called Comet, it was such an efficient build that I had points to just blow and put them in Speed finally just to get 250 points: 7 speed.  He was basically a Cannonball clone: flight/forcefield/move throughs.  He was crazy effective but where do you go from there?  Skill levels to miss even less?  I mean I could come up with stuff but it was a super tight concept and didn't need anything more.

[Opal]

3 hours ago, Tech said:

Rouge or Rogue (X-men)?

Rogue always seemed like such a stumper, "mimic pool?"  Really?

 

IDK how Rogue was generally portrayed in the comics, I think she was after the brief period I read the X-men, but I do recall thinking of building the version of her portrayed in one of the 90s animated TV shows.

 

That version, at least, had an interesting side-effect to absorbing powers, she also absorbed some of the emotional state/personality of the subject, and it would sometimes overwhelm her.  Also, it seemed like no one ever attacked or did much of anything with the unconscious enemies she'd just power-absorbed. 

 

That made me think:  Mind Control.

 

It's an MC that has to be established by touch, commands are 'telepathic' & something akin to 'leaves body behind,' but, the fun part, the mind controller stops taking actions, themselves, but all damage acrued to the target happens to the controller (& vice-versa, sorta), and, when the control ends, they swap places. 

 

No, really.

 

3 hours ago, Tech said:

My brother tried a shapeshifter like Beast Boy. The character didn't last long. A Multipower can be made larger over time but you need to ask yourself, "What will I do with my XP gained after 100 pts, 200 pts, etc"  A multipower properly done can grant you enough powers so you don't need anything else to buy. You end up saying "what do I do with my points?".

However, many years later, he tried another one but with Multiform. That one's lasting. It's not a pain to create each form; it's fun!

I know GMs vary in how much exp they give out, but a couple hundred could be years of play.  

Anyway, one thing you could do is combine the two, with the most significantly different form or few with the more comprehensive MF, and other forms & partial transformations covered with the more efficient MP.

[Hugh Neilson]

I did a multiform style character with animal forms some time back, very early 6e.

 

I found the challenge became forms that were actually different.  OK, you have some big, strong forms, like an elephant, a rhino or a gorilla.  You've got some with claws and fangs (which, for a 6e Supers game, I defined as AP on STR), like big cats, bears, etc.  You've got some that fly, like birds and bats and others that are small and inobtrusive, like a cat or a mouse.

 

OK, maybe we toss in a skunk and a porcupine and some aquatic forms and...and a lot just look 90% the same with a minor tweak.

 

The character worked and was fun to play.  He was a 6e experiment between AP as a primary attack choice, and high STUN, REC, Regen and Damage Reduction, and decent CV without high DEX, but animals only lend themselves to so many power sets.  Even "super-animals" whose physical stats typically reflected his own "beyond normal human" stats.

[iamlibertarian]

On 3/29/2021 at 6:44 AM, Hugh Neilson said:

Almost 7 years of thread necromancy...at least it's for a topic that comes up on occasion.

 

Lol, I am building a Beast-Boy-resembling character, and googled Hero System Beast Boy, and voila, here I landed. I prefer to read older stuff already hashed out than start a new topic When I can.

[iamlibertarian]

On 3/29/2021 at 2:09 PM, Hugh Neilson said:

Practically:

 

 - you can build a multiform with massive doub;lings of forms, or a VPP of Multiforms, and have a sheet for each form, adding new ones at your discretion.

 

 - you can have a Multipower and put a configuration of multipower slots together for various standard forms, adding new ones at your discretion.

 

 - you could even have a VPP of animal powers and put a configuration of multipower slots together for various standard forms, adding new powers and new configurations at your discretion (wait - I need an NND vs Smell Flash Defense for my skunk).

 

All three require advance preparation to avoid slowing down the game.

 

The VPP Multiform-only idea doesn't even take much prep ahead of time if you have a copy of HSB, or whatever source book(s) you need in front of you or in PDF right in front of you. Of course unique/specialty builds are a different story. But if you are truly closely duplicating Beast Boy, you can just open HSB at the first game in which the character is played, and build other animals not listed between games.

[Hugh Neilson]

I'd say Beast Boy is effective enough that he's not using standard animals as their defenses won't hold up in Supers games, but it would be easy to say "the standard animal plus these extra defenses (perhaps Combat Luck)" or any other modification you want.

[Tech]

Beast Boy's forms are definitely superpowered. No gorilla is going to jump around like Spider-man, get pounded on repeatedly by a creature that can damage concrete and come back swinging afterwards, or survive a 30 foot fall and get back up fighting (ala Teen Titans cartoon series).

[Christopher R Taylor]

Plus he can turn into some stuff that doesn't exist (but does in the DC universe) lke a dragon or I don't know, a Transdocian Fringed Sleed monster

[Greywind]

As I recall, the ability to change into those came much later. Like after a demonic possession and undergoing the Amazonian purple ray healing.

[Ninja-Bear]

On 3/29/2021 at 7:56 PM, steriaca said:

Well, yes. It is all about special effects. Yet Multiform exists. 

And? If Multiform is the best choice for character concept then use it. If MP is the best choice then use it. I don’t see this as an either or but what is the best choice for this?

[steriaca]

1 minute ago, Ninja-Bear said:

And? If Multiform is the best choice for character concept then use it. If MP is the best choice then use it. I don’t see this as an either or but what is the best choice for this?

Agreed on that. I just wanted to note that regardless of what you use, the other way exist.

[Ninja-Bear]

8 minutes ago, steriaca said:

Agreed on that. I just wanted to note that regardless of what you use, the other way exist.

Ok, totally agree! 

[steriaca]

This is the Hero System we are talking about. There is deliberately more than one way to build something. Sometimes even more than two.

[Ninja-Bear]

2 hours ago, steriaca said:

This is the Hero System we are talking about. There is deliberately more than one way to build something. Sometimes even more than two.

Yeah definitely. I misread your post and that that since there is Multiform you must use multiform. Again, my bad.

[steriaca]

3 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Yeah definitely. I misread your post and that that since there is Multiform you must use multiform. Again, my bad.

I probably thought that at the time of posting...or at least thought that Hero made multiform for a reason. 

[Sketchpad]

21 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Plus he can turn into some stuff that doesn't exist (but does in the DC universe) lke a dragon or I don't know, a Transdocian Fringed Sleed monster

 

18 hours ago, Greywind said:

As I recall, the ability to change into those came much later. Like after a demonic possession and undergoing the Amazonian purple ray healing.

 

Originally Beat Boy/Changeling could only turn into animals and had a quirk that they were all green hued. During a near fatal attack, he was healed by the Amazon Purple Ray and turned into a dinosaur, showing what potential his power could reach. Them during the Trigon Seed storyline, he was infected with one of the said seeds and his powers were corrupted, giving him the ability to turn into nightmarish creatures. Since then, the original concept behind the character was tossed out the window and he can turn into anything the writer needs for the story. Unfortunate, because he had some neat abilities that fit well with his story.

 

On 3/29/2021 at 6:18 PM, Christopher R Taylor said:

When I built a similar character I did a power pool of multiforms (technically illegal but the GM let me have it), limited to animals of course.

 

This is how I typically create a character that can assume animal or people forms. I only use Shapeshift when they can become objects of some kind (and even then I might build it more in a VPP).

[Hugh Neilson]

On 3/29/2021 at 4:18 PM, Christopher R Taylor said:

When I built a similar character I did a power pool of multiforms (technically illegal but the GM let me have it), limited to animals of course.

Was that an older edition?  Multiform is a standard power in 6e, and I'm pretty sure it was in 5e.

[steriaca]

3 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

Was that an older edition?  Multiform is a standard power in 6e, and I'm pretty sure it was in 5e.

I can't speak for him, but I know Multiform appeared in 4ed Champions, and I'm sure it predates 4ed. It was probably Fantasy Hero as there magic system. Or Champions III.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I think it was a special power in 5th, not sure they had those categories in 4th.  Not at my rules books right now to check