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Ulfwyn I hope this works, I've never posted from hero designer before... Val Char Cost 15 STR 5 23 DEX 39 18 CON 16 15 BODY 10 12 INT 2 12 EGO 4 18 PRE 8 16 COM 3 15/20 PD 12 15/20 ED 11 6 SPD 27 7 REC 0 40 END 2 50 STUN 18 9" RUN02" SWIM07" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 157 Cost Power END 11 Runecasting Divination: Clairsentience (Sight Group; Additional Sense Group: Hearing Group, Precognition, Retrocognition) (70 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Hour; -3), Character May Take No Other Actions (-1/4), OAF (Focus - Bag of Runes; -1), Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), Incantations, Requires Incantations throughout (-1/2) 7 4 Magical Energies - Strength affects desolid: +0 STR, Affects Desolidified (One Special Effect of Desolidification; +1/4) (4 Active Points) (Modifiers affect Base Characteristic) [Notes: Affects only supernatural/magical desolidification.] 1 30 Tyr's Eye for Battle: Find Weakness 11- (All Attacks) 6 Runs like Thialfi: Running +3" (9" total) 1 6 Hero's Feats: Leaping +4" (7" forward, 3 1/2" upward) (Accurate) (9 Active Points); Requires Acrobatics Roll (-1/2) 1 14 A sense for evil: Detect Supernatural beings A Class Of Things 13-, Discriminatory, Sense 22 Axe Blow: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6 (plus STR) (vs. PD), Affects Desolidified (One Special Effect of Desolidification; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (45 Active Points); OAF (-1) [Notes: Affects supernatural/magical desolid only] 2 10 Armoured Jerkin & Breeches: Armor (5 PD/5 ED) (15 Active Points); OIF (-1/2) Powers Cost: 103 Cost Martial Arts Maneuver Dance of the Eights 4 1) Thurisaz - Killing Blow: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +0 DCV, HKA 0 1/2d6 5 2) Tiwaz - Warrior's Fist: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, STR +5d6 Strike 4 3) Sigel - Swift Strike: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, STR +3d6 Strike 4 4) Ansuz - Gone like the wind: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort 4 5) Algiz - Impenetrable Shield: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, Block, Abort 4 6) Fehu - Blinding Strike: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Flash 5d6 5 7) Raido - Travelling Blow: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +0 DCV, STR +1d6 +v/5; FMove 3 8) Isa - Binding hold: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab Two Limbs, +15 STR for holding on 4 9) +1 HTH Damage Class(es) Martial Arts Cost: 37 Cost Skill 7 Acrobatics 16- 3 Breakfall 14- 3 Climbing 14- 10 +2 with HTH Combat 3 Defense Maneuver: I 4 KS: Rune Magic (INT-based) 12- 3 KS: Supernatural Evil Beings (INT-based) 11- 3 Stealth 14- Skills Cost: 36 Cost Talent 15 Norn's Blessing: Danger Sense 11- Talents Cost: 15 Total Character Cost: 348 Val Disadvantages 15 Social Limitation: Secret Identity (Ingrid Jarlson) Frequently (11-), Major 20 Psychological Limitation: Protective of innocents (Very Common; Strong) 20 Hunted: Swartalfar (Dark Elves) and their agents 8- (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish; Extensive Non-Combat Influence) 15 Psychological Limitation: Disdain for social niceties (Common; Strong) 15 Psychological Limitation: Driven to fight supernatural evil (Uncommon; Total) 5 Distinctive Features - Nordic Pale skin, ice blue eyes: (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 20 Enraged: When innocents endangered by evil/criminal action (Common), go 11-, recover 11- 10 Reputation: Driven fanatic 8- (Extreme) 20 Hunted: DEMON 8- (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish; Extensive Non-Combat Influence) 10 Unluck: 2d6 Disadvantage Points: 150 Base Points: 200 Experience Required: 0 Total Experience Available: 0 Experience Unspent: 0 Background She was raised in the icy woods of Denmark, isolated, cold and very safe indeed from the Swartalfar and all their human spies. Learning the old names and ways at the feet of her patient uncle. "What does this one mean?" she asked "This one, little cub, is Thurisaz. The thorn. Sharp and piercing, dangerous to the unwary." "And this?" "Sigel, the lightning bolt, sudden and unexpected, deadly, irresistible." Many days, many weeks, learning the old stories, tales of the gods spoken of as familiarly as family friends who could drop in at any time. Tales of other creatures far worse, against whom the door would be barred and no mead offered. The black suited men came in the dead of the night, wielding weapons of flesh that pulsed and oozed and hurt the eyes to look upon. Uncle Jan, hiding the teenaged Ingrid in his cellar, resisted as long as he could, bellowing charms and curses that shredded the skin and turned femurs to vipers, but the last of them finally slew him, stamping on the ravens that pulled themselves free from his dying mouth. All pretense at humanity shrivelled away by the old shaman's magic, the last surviving of the Swartalfar tore apart the cabin with three syllables that were like thunder, and winter, and long death. "Will your sorcery be stronger little wren?" trilled the Swartalf mockingly as the girl arose from the wreckage, pale and slight in the moon's cold illumination. She shook her head, dumbly. Taking her silence for fear the Swartalf trickled toward her across the landscape, human-shape and cloud-of-darkness both at once. "Let's play together," he mocked, "I'll show you where the cats go to weep." "Weep yourself!" snapped the girl, helpless no longer as she drove her fist through the chest of the creature. Not expecting this direct, physical, *vulgar* assault the demon was helpless to withstand it. Thurisaz. Frail shell and faerie spirit fell together, boiling into maggots on the ground. And only then did Ingrid weep for her Uncle. Her wandering began that night, and never ended. Personality/Motivation Ingrid's crusade against supernatural evil has left her driven and focussed to the point of obsession. She has never bothered cultivating social contacts and is inherently suspicious of anyone that tries to get to know her too well. She believes that the weak need protecting, but at the same time she is equally convinced that they ought also to learn how to protect themselves. Campaign Use Aware how fragile the rational daylight world is, Ingrid has focussed all her energies on protecting the innocent from the ravages of the supernatural. Though the Swartalfar are rare in the USA they do still wield power, often choosing to manifest it through seemingly beneficient organisations and institutions (they love psychiatric hospitals). She is a cold hearted and ruthless opponent of evil and injustice in all its forms, with a particular hatred of the supernatural. Powers/Tactics Ingrid plans her campaigns with the aid of the runestones, allowing her divinatory skills to lead her into the path of danger. When combat occurs she is ruthless using her most powerful attacks against those with proven supernatural origins and showing no quarter. Quote "Get your hand off me now. That is no doctor, but a creature of the depths. If you will stand between me and him then you declare yourself my enemy." ---- I was a bit unsure how to handle the strength-affects-desolid schtick and whether this would cover the increased DC from Martial arts... if not, please advise the best way to represent this. Image file attached too... Next challenge... a Victorian hero trapped in the modern world.

When Harry Potter hits puberty we'd better all hope he doesn't get mood swings along with acne.

More about names... "Calendar Girl" made me chuckle. Very apt, very genre. Do you have an idea of her powers/methods or is she just a name at present?

countermeasures... Given that this new organisation is likely to be a major threat to VIPER, DEMON etc, it's more than probable that those organisations are going to want to nip its power in the bud. Even assuming there aren't already VIPER infiltrators working for the CIA, FBI, DOSPA etc I would imagine that attempts will be made very early on to compromise or influence insiders in the new organisation. I'm guessing that none of your players would like to play an enemy double agent... if you think one of them would, have them approached and recruited. Heck, even if they turn the attempt down there's a potential plot thread there (maybe they'll go along with the attempt and turn Triple...). If your players are unlikely to go for this you can always foreshadow the fact that attempts are being made. One of the PCs may learn that their apartment has been very carefully searched, or that they are being closely monitored. Bank accounts and personal mail may be tampered with (very very subtly, let the PCs feel they've achieved something by discovering it). Then the attempts stop. What has actually happened, behind the scenes, is that a softer target has been found that can be compromised, blackmailed or bribed and the investigation into the PC has been called off as fruitless. The mole within the organisation can then wreak absolute havoc by revealing secrets, strategies- possibly even secret IDs if the organisation has access to them. Potential for complete mayhem without even having to enter combat. My suggestion for the mole would be a regularly featured but insignificant admin based character. Preferably one that was quite likeable. Maybe even recruited under a false flag that can give the PCs some sympathy for them--- choose a cause that appeals to one of the PCs and maybe set up some nice conversations between them & the appropriate PC a long way in advance. Makes the final revelation so much more tasty as the PC is left thinking 'there but for the grace of God...' "You've been feeding our operational data to VIPER for the past six months!" "VIPER? No way Sequoia-Woman! The guy I spoke to was from the Rainbow Alliance, they were only interested in ecology!" - Also don't forget the potential for rivalry and oneupmanship between the various agencies instigating this project. "I like you, Doctor Kenosis, you do things the *agency* way." "uh, actually..." "Come on now son, we need to get the job done don't we? Leave the police procedural stuff for the grunts." etc

"And Britains supposed to be crawling with people who live forever from an earlier age. Throw a stone in Devon & the chance that you've hit an imortal is as high as you getting beaten up for throwing rocks at people..." Tell me about it. Mostly you meet them standing in large crowds outside Post Offices talking endlessly about how "this was all fields when I was a lad" and "young people today" and "of course in the war we couldn't get bananas you know, and we had to make do with powdered egg." and "Don't get me started about the Picts, layabouts the lot of them" etc.

I always used to find it amusing in some of the (ahem) less innovative comics that while Good Old Uncle U.S of Stateside (the former colonies...) had a plethora of varied superheroes inspired by diverse concepts, origins, themes etc, the cast list for non-American supers tended to be based around nation/culture and little else. Samurai based or (preserve us) Kamikaze based Japanese heroes, "British Bulldog" and an abundance of knights in armour for England etc etc. Of course taking those preconceptions, changing them, and playing with them can be fun, but I agree it's important to handle the issue sensitively. I still cringe when I look back on Marvel's Power Man and his 'authentic' dialogue. Shoot. Christmas. etc.

Outrage! Conceal ones lower class origins? (engage irony mode) Impossible! Leaving aside such impossibilities as Eliza Doolittle, any such attempt by the lower orders would be doomed to failure. The coarse streak of the working class would show through instantly like manure beneath a rosebush! (disengage irony mode)

I once enjoyed sadistically blending two of my campaigns without informing the players. Their AD&D characters faced an epic struggle to obliterate an evil elvish cabal who were attempting to flee their dying world (the elvish cabal had wrecked the ecosystem with their vampiric magic) and managed to do so by disrupting the spells that were ready to take the evil elvish types cross dimensionally to the PC's homeworld, forcing them instead into the empty void between planes. Later in my Champions campaign the PCs came into contact with a disembodied race of psionic refugees trapped in a limbo like dimension and managed to rescue them and arrange their return "home" courtesy of the team teleporter and some psionic assistance from the poor disembodied creatures. I did enjoy the moment when one of my more alert players realised, after the event, that their superhero PCs had just "rescued" the arch enemies of their AD&D PCs AND neatly transported them to my AD&D campaign world (with my AD&D campaign about to resume). Not really "off genre characters", but sort of on-topic. Heck, guess I'm still just gloating about it really...

briefly back to "covens" It's an article of (ahem) faith with British wiccans that covens worked massive joint rituals, especially in the New Forest area, to counter Nazi attempts to invade during Operation Sealion. Gerald Gardner, the founder of the modern Wiccan movement (so he claims) says that he took part in these rituals under "Old Mother Clutterbuck." So WWII Wiccan characters can show up, probably wearing tweeds and riding old bicycles. However in a nice twist on this, it has been alleged by one Amado Crowley (who claims to be Aleister Crowley's illegitimate son, but imho is more likely to be the Crown Prince of the Moon) that "Old Mother Clutterbuck" was in fact Aleister Crowley's codename when he was recruited by the British Secret Service to conduct said rituals. So the allied heroes could also include occultists of a different nature, possibly stringing along the wiccan types. All good fun back then. If it wasn't for the bombs falling it would almost have been enjoyable methinks.

If I recall correctly, Hitler & several other of the inner circle of the Nazi hierarchy were members of the Thule Gesallschaft, whose beliefs promoted the nordic master-race notion, suggesting their descent from the inhabitants of the sunken continent of Thule. Thus the link to the Nordic mythos. Throw in a large dose of Wagnerian Parsifal/Arthurian idealism and the political clout to indulge in a practical exploration of those ideals and you've got a recipe for global disaster right there. That's power for you. Anybody that wants it should be barred from having it.

Thank goodness for this thread! I've just started a 5th edition Champions campaign after having run 2 or 3 others in earlier editions over the past few years and I was surprised at how quickly PCs and NPCs went down these days. I was about to impose a blanket defense-increase to get things back the way they were, but now I may try out some more thoughtful responses based on the ideas mooted above.

hail eris? An avatar of anarchy or discordianism could make quite an interesting npc. Leaving those around unsure whether he/she is a hero or villain, focussing instead on shaking the campaign world out of its preconceptions and complacencies (both good and bad). ahd

I blush to admit it but several years ago, carried away by my own rhetoric as a GM my descriptive powers short circuited somewhat. "The zombies lurch toward you, reeking of odour." Still gets brought up from time to time...