PamelaIsley

I'm fine with disagreeing, but now you've made me re-read these pages (I usually skip them when I go back through these books), so the punishment is that I have to write something else.   
 
Steve had to know something was up (as I said before, at least partly because of how much preemptive, defensive explaining he does).  At the beginning of this section, he writes that CU is an unlimited source campaign.  He then lists a lot of different sources, including the categories of Magic and Mysticism.  Then, half a page later, he says magic is the source of everything.  I just can't believe he didn't think this would be received as confusing (at best).
 
*This is compounded by the fact that when explaining sources in Champions (6E and 5E), that book actually contrasts an unlimited source campaign with a magic-only campaign (one of the examples of a limited source campaign).

In my defense, the published universe is obsessed with dates.  It feels the need to anchor itself to very specific points in time (particularly the Battle of Detroit, which it explicitly places in 1992, a major problem since that was already 15 years in the past as of News of the World).  And it's not just the setting book -- the villain books include tons and tons of very specific dates.  I am staunchly opposed to any real world setting doing this, so I admit it drives me crazy.  The frustrating thing about the CU is that it is obsessed with dates, and then is sloppy about processing what those dates mean.  The setting provides so many dates that there is a lot of work scrubbing it out (it's most of the reason for this thread frankly) and reworking the timeline.  If the Champions are supposed to be a new superhero team as of Champions 6E, then they can't have started adventuring in 2001 (nine years before that book is published and now 18 years ago).
 
 
I think superteams other than the Champions (and the PCs) are important.  I don't want to use these characters (I have no attachment to a single one, and will spare people my nitpicking of their stories other than the dates).  But I also don't want to excise so much of the setting that it no longer feels recognizable.  So I'm struggling between total revamp of the teams (using just a form of their names), a refresh (changing dates for most, eliminating some of them and replacing them with original characters), or just tweaks (just dates and deleting Bravo and Black Rose's background). 
 
I also brought them up because they are just so bizarre that I thought their backgrounds and builds must have struck others as odd.

I like to ignore the "everyone is a mage" explanation. It is not that confusing (the high mana level is the reason people get superpowers as oppose to killing themselves or being killed), it just that it seems to be lazy. Very lazy.

Are there any Champions Universe organizations that are dedicated to scientific research and breakthroughs, almost at all costs?  I'm thinking someone less evil than VIPER or ARGENT so they can work with the government and heroes, but not as goody two shoes as say Harmon Industries.
 
I was thinking of modifying the Goodman Institute to be less altruistic and more about research at almost any cost (short of outright evil or villainy), but I wondered if I was missing something.
 
Pharos in Millennium City kind of fits this as a normal company that isn't quite evil, but isn't quite a perfect corporate citizen, but what I have in mind would fit better with a Think Tank or something that's not run exclusively for profit or shareholder value.

I've noticed that Steve Long does that with a lot of the villains he creates, and sometimes even the heroes (like Nighthawk). The character experiences a complete personality shift as a result of becoming "super." Maybe it's my drama training, but I find it more interesting and compelling when there's a clear through-line in a character's background, showing the path that led them to become who they are.

Index
 
Original Heroes
 
Bluebird, Ice Energy Projector
Paragon, Flying Brick
Ultragirl, Flying Brick
Miss Photon, Light Energy Projector and Brick
Darkwing, Costumed Avenger
Overpower, Electrical Energy Projector and Brick
Anaea, Sword Wielding Brick
Accelerate, Speedster
 
Original Villains
 
Poison Petal, Plant Controller
Aetheria, Light Energy Projector
Kinetica, Kinetic Energy and Friction Controller
Daystar, Celestial Energy Projector
Omega, Energy Projector
Tatterdemalion, Fear Inducer
Crimson Psyche, Telepth and Psionics
White Hare, Gadgeteer
 
Conversions
 
Cavalier 6E, Powered Armor
Gravitar, Gravity Manipulation Master Villain
 
 
---Original Post---
I used to have a thread of 6E builds, but it's long archived.  I'd like to revive it because I've decided (against my initial inclination) to try to re-learn 6E rules and get in the habit of creating characters again.  The simple fact is that I like writing out character backgrounds and creating new heroes and villains (or converting existing ones).  And I think having stat blocks makes a background look complete and it helps to think out what a character can actually do.  Hero, like most systems, is heavily focused on combat (and has become more so over the years), but even just knowing the relative power of combat powers helps with placing a hero or villain in the context of the Champions world.
 
I would love to get feedback and help on these builds, so please feel free to post any critiques or corrections.  The first one that I will post is my original 6E build, which is a conversion of my Champions Online character.  She is obviously quite dear to me (I've have four or five copies of her near level 40 in Champions Online because I love the look and powerset so much), but if I've built her incorrectly, then I'm happy to tweak her Hero version. 
 
All of these will have been run through Hero Designer (which is just awesome), so the costs should all be correct (if not, I've made a typo here).  The formatting might be inconsistent because I tend to simplify some of the Hero Designer text when I drop characters into Word and then post them here.
 
All of my my characters use a version of the Characteristic Maxima rules from 6E and 6E Champions.  If someone has a characteristic over 20, then there will be some justification (although I don't charge more).  I also tend to enforce something like a 75 active point limit on characters (maybe lower for my 300 point builds) and reasonable OCV/DCV numbers.  But without experience in the system, I might be getting that part wrong.
 
If I build enough characters, I will turn this first post into an index.  If not, it will just be an intro to what I intend. 

 
 

Human nature?

The name was first associated with the character in a Cardboard Heroes set of Champions villains produced by SJGames. As a result, when the competition to design the character was run later, one of the rules was that the name Holocaust couldn't be used.
 
Since none of the entries were considered to be of an acceptable standard, there was no winner, and the character was left in limbo for decades. When he was statted out for 5e, the only previous published name was used.

It's not a superhuman universe to me without costumes. 

Agreed. 
 
 
If the name is the main concern, why not just rename him? 
 
For instance, I'm doing preproduction work now on retooling my version of the CU with a timeline reboot, and slowly framing out which published characters as well as which bits of my own various campaigns that I intend to retain in the rebooted timeline. Holocaust will be retained (with some tweaks) or at least an analogue based on him will, but I'm considering changing the name of the resulting character to Exigent.

"He’s convinced it’s only a matter of time before he finds a way to triumph." (CV 1 p. 48)  His name would just be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
 
One example of how I approach a name-change for an official villain is the Incubus (CV 3), the setting's Mr. Myxyzptlk analogue. His style and appearance have nothing to do with a mythic incubus, a sexually predatory demon, male counterpart to the succubus. But Steve Long has written that he just liked the sound of the name for this character. I wanted to keep that sound element, but make it more thematically appropriate. I ended up renaming him Impius, a play on both "imp" and "impious."

Yeah, the name comes with a whole lot of baggage. If you're going to use it, as opposed to just renaming him, be sure everyone is cool with it. You could come up with an in-game reason why he uses it. Something that will show him to be an insensitive SOB.
 
He could, in his mind,  be "reclaiming the name."
 
He sees himself as part of a reviled minority and so identifies with the Jewish people and decides to reclaim the name. Of course doing something like that as a privileged rich WASP kid is pretty on the nose, but he is a villain...

I want to thank everyone for their posts.
 
My original thoughts were more related to overall world demographics -- kind of a universe building question.  The CU's published villains are all really powerful (and lots of them have gotten more powerful through editions; I just discovered Anubis received an enormous jump from 5E to 6E).  It calls into question some of the assumptions presented in the 6E Champions book and the 6E Champions Universe book (talking about the ratio of heroes to villains, and the over all power levels of characters).
 
I did understand from the start that you could adjust these characters as needed.  It would be tedious work if you didn't enter them in Hero Designer, but it can be done.  I just think that there isn't a good representation of average villains in the published materials.  Or the "average" villain according to published materials is too powerful to fit with the demographic information that we've been given.
 
We would need another thread, I think, to discuss opinions on the Master Villains' stat blocks. 

So stealing from Killer Shrike, here are my proposed setting parameters.  I tried to keep it simple (I originally went through all the active members of Sentinel, Capital Patrol, and Justice Squadron, but how often will that actually come up?), but it's still longer than Killer Shrike's.  I couldn't decide on whether the campaign would be centered on 300 point or 400 point 6E heroes, so I just wrote it up as though either could be used.  This is very much a draft.
 
The Bluebird Champions Universe (BCU)
A Modified Champions Universe Setting
 
Main Differences from 6E Champions Universe
 
1. Magic is not the source of all superpowers.  Superpowers come from a variety of means, and supermagic is just one possible origin for superhumans.
2. Ignore all published dates in the 5E and 6E Champions Universe.  Unless a specific date is given in the BCU, all events simply occur in the past.
3. There have been no extradimensional or alien invasions of the Earth.  Very few people on Earth believe in the existence of extraterrestrials.  Superheroes and villains with alien origins exist, but the public either does not believe their origin stories or is unaware of them.
4. Other dimensions exist, but there are no known interdimensional empires or states.  Dimensions exist primarily as the domain of entities such as demons, Lovecraftian monsters, or unknown forms of energy.  There is very little extradimensional travel, even by these other entities, without elaborate summoning rituals.
5. UNTIL, PRIMUS, and similar organizations do not exist.  Governments monitor superhuman activity, but regular defense and law enforcement agencies are responsible for dealing with any threats.
6. Superheroes and supervillains cancel each other out in a geopolitical sense.  Governments and militaries are far more powerful than even the combined might of all superhumans, so superhumans are not a factor in global political maneuverings.  No government maintains a large superhero team to supplement its military forces.
7. Supertechnology has not really spread enough to have any effect on the world’s technological level.  Virtually all villainous henchmen use real world guns, not blasters.
8. Superhumans were largely inactive during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.  The modern era of superhumans began with the appearance of Vanguard about 12 years before the Battle of Detroit.  This coincided with the rise of Dr. Destroyer and Takofanes.
9. The Battle of Detroit happened eight years ago.  The battle seriously weakened the superhero community, causing most teams to slowly disband and many solo heroes to retire (if they weren’t killed in the fighting).  For unexplained reasons, many of the villains active during this time also faded away.
10. The new era of superheroes began with the founding of the Champions a “year or so” before the present year. Almost all villain origins should be considered to start within a few years of this event, unless there is a strong thematic reason to have them active in the earlier modern era.  (The purpose of this is to keep villain ages somewhat realistic.)
11. Although in decline, the Sentinels and Justice Squadron (called Justice in the BCU) are still active, although they are rapidly being eclipsed in prominence by the Champions.
12. The following master villains from 6E Volume 1 do not exist in the BCU: Istvatha V’han, Shadow Destroyer, Shadow Queen, Skarn, Tezcatlipoca, Tyrannon, and Doctor Yin Wu.
13. The following master villains were “finally” defeated around the time of the Battle of Detroit, and are not active: Dr. Destroyer and Takofanes.
14. The following villain teams from 6E Volume 2 do not exist in the BCU: Red Guard and Tiger Squad.
 
Typical Hero Rules
 
1. Typical "new" heroes are created either as low powered (300 point / 60 matching complications) or standard (400 point / 75 matching complications) characters.
2. No character may have more than one characteristic above 20 without a strong thematic reason (no randomly high dexterities or constitutions, as is common in published material).  If someone has a Dexterity above 20 or an intelligence above 20 for example, there needs to be a reason they are one of the world’s greatest athletes or one of the most brilliant humans to ever live.
3. In general, active points are capped at either 60 points (low-powered heroes) or 75 points (standard), with possible exceptions for an individual power.  DCs should be capped around 12. Villains and NPC heroes will be adjusted to compensate for this, as needed.
4. Non-speedsters should not have a SPD above 6.
5. Extradimensional origins should be avoided.

Yeah, his bio falls totally flat to me too.  A little too farfetched and weird.

Kinematik doesn't do it for me, personally. 

It's a word.  Words don't magically have hurtfulness or evil stapled to them, they're just words.  Some people may get upset if you use some words, but if you're not being malicious that's entirely their business.  It's up to you to decide how much you care about those people's feelings and how much you care about your freedom of expression. 

So there's a pretty strange mistake in Holocaust's bio in the 6E Master Villains book.  It doesn't appear in his 5E bio, so it's a little weird that it was introduced.  In the Associates, Allies, and Adversaries section, it mentions that Geoffrey Haganstone knows Rep. David Sutherland (the villain Invictus) and can sense his energy powers.  It goes on to say that he plans to blackmail Sutherland with this information.
 
Except . . . everyone knows that Sutherland has energy powers.  He's a famous superhero turned politician (who is actually a villain).  There's nothing to blackmail.  Invictus, in fact, has his own writeup just a few pages after Holocaust where this is spelled out.  
 
This might have been pointed out before but it isn't that easy to search this forum.
 
On another note, just out of curiosity, what do people think of Holocaust's name?  I hate to be too sensitive (or snowflakey), but I really like this character's background (particularly the Alliance storyline), but can't bring myself to use him in anything or develop any threads for him because I just feel a bit queasy about his villain identity.  Am I just being too prickly?

I want to thank everyone for their posts.
 
My original thoughts were more related to overall world demographics -- kind of a universe building question.  The CU's published villains are all really powerful (and lots of them have gotten more powerful through editions; I just discovered Anubis received an enormous jump from 5E to 6E).  It calls into question some of the assumptions presented in the 6E Champions book and the 6E Champions Universe book (talking about the ratio of heroes to villains, and the over all power levels of characters).
 
I did understand from the start that you could adjust these characters as needed.  It would be tedious work if you didn't enter them in Hero Designer, but it can be done.  I just think that there isn't a good representation of average villains in the published materials.  Or the "average" villain according to published materials is too powerful to fit with the demographic information that we've been given.
 
We would need another thread, I think, to discuss opinions on the Master Villains' stat blocks. 

This should be a separate topic, but one thing that comes out when I read over the answers in the thread is that, wow, a lot of people really like the tactical combat angle of PnP a lot more than I do.
 
I can just remember so many DnD 3.5 games when the instant the DM said "Roll for initiative", there was nothing but collective groans around the table.  DnD, M&M, and Hero combat is just so . . . tedious.  
 
But as I've said repeatedly, everyone has their own definition of fun.

This should be a separate topic, but one thing that comes out when I read over the answers in the thread is that, wow, a lot of people really like the tactical combat angle of PnP a lot more than I do.
 
I can just remember so many DnD 3.5 games when the instant the DM said "Roll for initiative", there was nothing but collective groans around the table.  DnD, M&M, and Hero combat is just so . . . tedious.  
 
But as I've said repeatedly, everyone has their own definition of fun.

This should be a separate topic, but one thing that comes out when I read over the answers in the thread is that, wow, a lot of people really like the tactical combat angle of PnP a lot more than I do.
 
I can just remember so many DnD 3.5 games when the instant the DM said "Roll for initiative", there was nothing but collective groans around the table.  DnD, M&M, and Hero combat is just so . . . tedious.  
 
But as I've said repeatedly, everyone has their own definition of fun.

One of the main things that causes players to build things that make GM's cringe is GM malfeasance.  If you keep throwing enemies at the players that their characters have a hard time hitting, they're going to stack OCV.  If you keep throwing villains at players that their characters have a hard time hurting, they're going to stack damage or get attacks that bypass defenses.  Players don't like to feel weak or worthless, they want to feel like... champions.  
 
That doesn't mean nobody should ever have a challenge, but it does mean you should watch how your players react and what they do, to make sure you aren't annoying or frustrating them.

You definitely could.  It's just as easy, though, to modify the villains down.  I think most people would probably enter any villain they intended to use long-term into HD (the condensed blocks in the books aren't that convenient for actual play; as I've learned doing sample combats with friends).  Once it is in there, it's a piece of cake to modify them.
 
Strengthening heroes is the opposite approach I would take. In fact, I think heroes should start at 300 points in order to make sure that "normal" people and weapons remain lethal and threats.

You definitely could.  It's just as easy, though, to modify the villains down.  I think most people would probably enter any villain they intended to use long-term into HD (the condensed blocks in the books aren't that convenient for actual play; as I've learned doing sample combats with friends).  Once it is in there, it's a piece of cake to modify them.
 
Strengthening heroes is the opposite approach I would take. In fact, I think heroes should start at 300 points in order to make sure that "normal" people and weapons remain lethal and threats.