A Reluctant Hero (Work In Progress) - Help welcome

[Comic]

Cyclone the Weather Detective, aka “The Big Detective”, Matthew Mars

 

VAL CHA   CP Base Price END Roll Notes   

 15   STR     5    10      1       [1]   12- 3d6 HTH; IHID 30 STR, 6d6 [1]   

 13   DEX     6    10      2              12-   

 18   CON    8    10      1              13- IHID: 23 CON, 14-   

 18   INT      8    10      1              13- PER Roll 11-   

 13   EGO    3    10      1              12-   

 20   PRE   10    10      1              13- PRE Attack: 4d6; IHID 25 PRE, 14-, 5d6   

  5    OCV   10     3      5   

  3    DCV     0     3      5   

  3    OMCV  0     3      3   

  7    DMCV 12    3      3   

  2    SPD     0     2     10                   Phases: 12, 6; IHID SPD 4: 12, 3, 6, 9   

  7    PD       5     2      1                    10(3r) PD; IHID 23 (13r)   

  7    ED       5     2      1                    10(3r) ED; IHID 23 (13r)   

 10   REC     6     4     1                     IHID: 40 REC   

 40   END     4    20   1/5   

 20   BODY 10   10   1   

 38   STUN   9    20 1/2                    IHID: 44 STUN   

Meters Move   

 12   RUN    0   12    1    [1]               X2 Noncombat; IHID 24m   

   4   SWIM  0     4   1/2  [1]               X2 Noncombat   

   4   LEAP   0     4   1     [1]              up to half upward; OIHID 1 km upwards

 20   FLY     -      -    -     [2/1]            +1/4 Variable Advantage, OIHID

101 Characteristics & Movement Total

 

CP Powers Notes [END]   

Powers   

 18 a 18 Energy BODY Absorption “Stirring Up” to Growth (at 0 END) Max 288 BODY (+3/4; Up to Gargantuan) 31 AP, Always On (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) [0]   

 18 a 18 Physical BODY Absorption to Growth “Stirring Up” (at 0 END) Max 288 BODY (+3/4; Up to Gargantuan) 31 AP, Always On (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) [0]   

 25 a 1 level Growth “Cyclone Form” 25 AP Cost END Only To Turn On (+1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [3]   

     +15 STR + 5 CON + 5 PRE + 3 PD/ED +6 STUN +1m Reach +12m Run -6m KB;   

     + 2 Opposed OCV, PER Rolls, 4m tall by 1m wide, 800kg for purposes of KB   

 11 a Active Sonar “Cyclone Feel” Touch Sense 360 Degree (+5 AP) 20 AP Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4)   

 23 Change Environment “Sympathetic Fallacy” +/- 3 Wind Levels 15 AP Varying Combat Effects (10 pts) 0 END (+1/2) Area Effect 4m Radius (+1/4) Megascale 1 km (+1) Broad Category Variable Weather Effects (+1) 94 AP Explosion -1 DC per km Radius (-1/2) NCC (-2) No Range (-1/2)   

  9 a 3DC Energy Damage Negation “Storm Form” 15 AP Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4)   

  9 a 3DC Physical Damage Negation “Storm Form” 15 AP Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4)   

  9 a 1/4 Energy Resistant Damage Reduction “Storm Form” 15 AP Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4)   

  9 a 1/4 Physical Resistant Damage Reduction “Storm Form” 15 AP Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4)   

 17 b Desolidification "Zephyr Form" 1 Charge Continuous 1 Day (+1/4) Trigger Deeply Unconscious (+1/4) 60 AP NCC (-2), Cannot Pass Through Solid Objects (-1/2)   

 17 a 20m Flight “Wind Form” x2 Ncbt Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) +1/4 Variable Advantage (+1/2) (1/2 END; Usable Underwater) [3]   

  1 b 3m Flight "Bouyancy" 0 END (+1/2) Triggered Deeply Unconscious (+1/4) Linked to Desolidification (-1/2) NCC Toward Tropopause (-2) [0]   

 10 b Invisibility to Sight (20 AP) “Zephyr Form” Reduced to Zero END (+1/2), Triggered Deeply Unconscious (+1/4) Linked To Desolidification (-2), Chameleon (-1/2) [0]   

 15 Life Support “Chaos Nature” Self Contained Breathing (10 AP) Immortal (5 AP) [0]   

 17 a 16 Resistant Mental Defense “Storm Form” Hardened (+1/4) Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) [0]   

 17 a +10 rPD/rED Resistant Protection “Storm Form” 30 AP, Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) [0]   

 17 a +30 REC "Storm Form" Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) [0]   

   4 a Reduced END for 30 STR “Storm Ease” (+1/4; 7 AP) Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) [-2]   

 11 a +2 SPD “Storm Form” Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) [0]

   1 a Naked Advantage on 1" Leap Megascale "Tornado Funnel" 1 km (+1) Linked to Growth (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) Straight Up Only (-1) [1]   

Talents   

  6 3/3 Combat Luck (If I had any real talent, would I be a weatherman?)   

Perks   

  1 Private Investigator's License   

Skills   

  5 Analyze Powers 13-   

  3 Sci: Atmospheric Physics, 13-   

  3 Deduction 13-   

  3 PS: Meteorologist 13-   

 20 +2 Overall Skill Levels   

299 Total Powers, Talents, Perks & Skills   

400 Total CP

 

Pts Complications

30 Accidental Change to Cyclone Form: If Stunned or Enraged; Always, Very Common

15 Distinctive Features: Weather follows his mood; Concealable, Major Reaction

15 Enraged: Innocents Harmed; 8- To Go; 14- To Recover

20 Hunted: Floating (Frequently; Mo Pow; NCI; Capture or Harshly Punish)

Physical Complication

 5 Strong Emotions come out in Sympathetic Fallacy, “Whispering Winds”

Psychological Complication

15 Code: CvK: Very Common, Strong

15 Compulsion: Curiousity: Common, Strong (compulsion to investigate mysteries, pursue secrets) especially if about superpowers that may lead to a cure for his 'condition'

Social Complication

15 Floating DNPC: Infrequent, Incompetent (Or Competent Group)

10 Public ID – The Weather Detective

  5 Negative Reputation: Responsible for bad weather; Infrequent

20 Floating Rival Weatherman or Detective, Professional and Romantic, Superior Position

Total Complications Points: 165

 

Experience Points: 0

 

Background/History:

“So, you are an expert meteorologist? You have concluded that the human race cannot exert so much influence as to affect the weather? Well, I think it is time we tested that hypothesis. On YOU!”

 

I was foolish, confrontational, and overconfident in my narrow world view, strapped into some sort of machine, hearing an electronic voice taunt me. And then lightning, and pain. I don't know which supervillain cursed me with this power, this cyclonic transfiguration of mine. In all these years of searching, I am no closer to their identity, or to a cure. I don't even look a day older. If the point was to teach me the error of my ways, I've learned. If it was to humble me, I am humbled. I have grown as a person because of this tribulation. Doesn't make me happy to bear it.

 

But I have learned so much more. It isn't all about me. There are people who need protecting from the changes we face. The power of the superstorm rests in me to use as I will. I will use it for good.

 

Appearance

Matthew 'The Weather Detective' Mars looks like a cross between a film noire gumshoe and a television anchor man. His grey London Fog trenchcoat swirls in a perpetual zephyr that tousles his hair with just a touch too much attention. The scarf at his neck seems to know where to turn for the best camera angle. There's no irony there; this is pretty much what he does for a living: weatherman by day, private investigator by night.

 

But when the wind changes, when the mood strikes, Matt is not the weatherman. He's the WEATHER MAN, a being of gale and tornado, a cyclone in the shape of a man, but more than a man.

 

And when crossed, beware the fury of the anthropogenic climate as it changes and evolves into the very substance and might of the atmosphere unleashed, in power no less than a typhoon, in reach no less than a hurricane, in resolve a maelstrom beyond ordinary human dimension.

 

Tactics

Matt has little choice of tactics; in combat he is unlikely to be able to retain his human proportions and form, and is not built to effectively dodge or block, except for combat luck. He's also not so extraordinarily tough at first that he can do much more than absorb damage, rolling with punches and taking recoveries while becoming bigger with time. He wasn't born a hero, and doesn't have the self-discipline for martial arts or to hold back once innocents are harmed.

 

If he isn't very careful about getting stirred up, he may become the most powerful unconscious person in a fight. Unconsciousness causes Cyclone to dissipate into a zephyr floating off to the clouds, until he regains consciousness.

 

If in a group being overpowered, Cyclone will grab his allies and leap for altitude riding a tornado funnel to escape. He will also resort to this strategy to gain the advantage of altitude by surprise, perhaps carrying something large with him. Once he's grown to huge size, his ability to sweep up an area in his open hands shifts the odds in his favor.

 

Role

Floating from gig to gig, town to town, station to station to Metube channel, Matthew Mars is always chasing the weather, the girl, the prediction, the curious and strange, but he never stops seeking madmen and criminals in the hopes of finding the one who did this to him, the one who made him the living storm. It's made him an expert in super powers, of sorts. He's become a decent detective, too, into the bargain. 

[Comic]

I was after an alternate, more elemental Hulk archetype. Elements of myth, but a product instead of mad science the protagonist had no role in nor understanding of, a victim of forces and villainy beyond his ken who struggles with that throughout his career.

 

Matt Mars is determined not to let biology be destiny. He could have left off his work and training as a television weather presenter entirely -- and was sorely tempted when his eyes were opened to how little he had understood of his world. He chose instead to carry on with who he was, adding to that his hunt to shed the curse of the Cyclone.

 

Picture the nightmare: every time he is dissipated into a zephyr, Matt's physical material wafts away to the clouds until time heals him fully. Then he drops, unprotected, identical to the molecule in every way other than his newly created memories, to the moment he was transfigured the first time. The first few years, he would go splat, and spend months in cloud form recovering from coma then suffering as his form regained mortal semblance over weeks without comfort, feeding itself on storm energy.

 

Mars gradually learned to master the transformation. Now, when he emerges human again from deep unconsciousness, he can consciously become an intermediate between man and storm, a cyclone capable of controlled flight. When he stepped the first time onto that unfriendly Earth that had squashed him like a bug on a windshield for so many years, he literally bent down to kiss the ground. Then, he learned to hunt. He hopes one day to find the villain who did this to him, to persuade him to undo it. He has yet to find a shred of any clue, but lives in hope.

 

The Weather Detective will never age. He might never die -- he doesn't know. He's barely able to fend off the Cyclone enough to lead a somewhat normal life if there are no surprises. And he's expected to be a superhero, because he has the power of one, though there is nothing of superheroism in his personality.

 

Matt Mars wants to be able to return to a life of quietly tempered narcissism and glib predictions. He enjoyed being a shallow man among shallow people. It fulfilled him. He wouldn't mind settling down to a medium-sized local viewership and raising a family in the suburbs. The whole living storm giant thing makes him uneasy, and offers nothing but pain. Of course, the flying is fun. That part he doesn't mind.

[Comic]

So.. Do I turn Cyclone to villain, or keep him hero?

 

Would he fit in your local hero group?

 

Be a welcome interloper?

 

Be someone they beat up?

 

Is he balanced for play?

[Hermit]

I'm not sure on the answers, but I'm for him staying a good guy. Maybe while he's wandering the country, he might be looking for occult experts who can help him with his curse, either to cure it, or control it.

[Lord Liaden]

Actually, I think Cyclone works better as a grey character, neither hero nor villain, or one or the other depending on the situation. Despite claiming he's learned from his experience, it sounds like he wants nothing more than to regain the superficial life he lost. He enjoys helping people, but he's not motivated enough to be a true hero. He is driven to find the person who changed him, so anyone getting between him and his goal may suffer for it.

 

The fact that he's a wanderer, and from the way he's presented, something of a celebrity, makes him easy to introduce into a campaign, and get rid of once the story line no longer requires him.