DShomshak

Re: Question for Dean Shomshak

Mr. Shomshak' date=' what would you propose as an alternative to the Ban? I am curious what other solutions might work.[/quote']

As I said above, designing gods on the same point range as most superbeings removes a lot of the problems. Though this can be tricky if you think gods need lots of Life Support, Universal Translator and other miscellaneous powers and such.

 

Though this can lead to other story problems. How do you enable Loki to fight all the Avengers, if he isn't written on significantly more points than the individual Avengers? You may need to come up with "dodges" the other way, to give villain gods a power-up.

 

White Wolf's game Scion takes an interesting approach. In Scion, worship is irrelevant to gods: What matters are that mortals know their stories. However, a god who uses his powers too freely around mortals can become bound by the mortals' expectations. It becomes harder and harder to do anything but play out the roles the mortals expect, repeating the same stories over and over again. So, gods use mortal disguises when they act on Earth, try not to use their full power where mortals can see them... and produce half-human children to do things for them as a new generation of heroes who will be less bound by mortal expectations.

 

(Yeah, it's Percy Jackson: The RPG in all but name. And as usual for WW, it has brilliant setting and suck mechanics. Some excellent supplements, though, including material written or developed by, , me.)

 

An exact translation of Scion's "fatebinding" mechanic into Hero terms would likely be unwieldy, but you could probably design something along the same idea. Gods would need strong motives to act on Earth; but they could exploit the new tropes of costumed heroes and villains to insulate themselves somewhat from being trapped in old myths.

 

Dean Shomshak

Re: Question for Dean Shomshak

But people should be aware that Dean himself came up with the concept of the Ban and published it in The Ultimate Super Mage, long before Steve Long was calling the shots for the CU.

Wow. It's been so many years (and campaigns, and writing projects) I'd forgotten about that earlier version of the Ban. Yeah, in USM the Ban was to explain (or explain away) how Christianity and Islam could ever replace the old polytheisms if the gods could appear at will and remind people they were real, and powerful. In the superheroic Age, this version of the Ban fell almost completely and gods were merely faced with the problem of being in another dimension.

But then, USM also suggested writing up gods in the normal power range for superbeings, with only a few being significantly more powerful. (Which can be done. As an exercise, I wrote up a "starting PC" Thor on 400 points -- though it had to be early Marvel's version, with OIAID on damn near everything.) In this case, pantheons are no more a problem for the setting than any other small, super-powered race such as the Eternals and Inhumans for Marvel. Long's decision to make every god comparable to Doctor Destroyer made the problem sharper, and required the Ban to continue in some form.

Dean Shomshak

Re: Evil

Fanaticism is more complex than it may seem at first.

Consider the young man who becomes a Jihadist suicide bomber. He's likely unemployed, seething with sexual frustration, and has been brainwashed for weeks using harangues and sleep deprivation (standard cult indoctination techniques). He is a tool in another's hand and, I think, deserves a measure of pity.

The one who brainwashed him does not. This man is a fanatic, but also a hypocrite: You don't see *him* strapping on explosives, eager to become a martyr. But fanaticism and hypocrisy go together like the two sides of a coin. For the sake of The Cause, any lie, crime or blasphemy becomes acceptable and maybe even noble. The fanatic is above the laws and morals that govern lesser, less committed men. A law unto himself.

The egotism is incredible, and incredibly evil.

Dean Shomshak

Re: Evil

The latest issue of Scientific American has an article that might be relevant to this discussion. It's called "The Wisdom of Psychopaths." Sometimes there is a fine line between hero and villain -- like the world-class brain surgeon who says that over the years, he has deliberately extirpated any trace of compassion for his patients. To keep a steady hand and perform surgery at that level of difficulty, he cannot afford any trace of emotion.

Psychopaths are, provably, also better detectives than other people. They sense vulnerabilities -- such as having something to hide.

But there's a spectrum. The traits of a psychopath (inflated self-esteem, empathy that can be turned off at will, superficial charm, etc.) can be useful at moderate degrees, but criminal and dangerous if they're turned up too high, or paired with other traits (such as a need for instant gratification).

Dean Shomshak

Re: Question for Dean Shomshak

Lord Liaden: The Congeries is definitely a Netzach plane. There is no law but Skarn's will.

Thulkos superficially seems to maintain some natural laws, such as the tendency of matter to collect in Hula Hoop shapes. That is only an appearance, though. The central spheres of world-loops and star-loops could not exist under Thulkos' old system of natural law. So, modern Thulkos is a Netzach dimension as well.

Keep in mind that the distinction between Netzach dimensions and Hod dimensions is partly political: Whether there is a dimension lord actively controlling the dimension. So, what if Skarn or Tyrannon die? The GM must decide what happens to their dimensions.

If the Congeries and Thulkos continue operating by whatever rules, in whatever condition their masters last imposed, they become Hod dimensions.

On the other hand, maybe the dimensions fall apart without their masters as keystones... which means Skarn and Tyrannon both have a whole lot of hostages to protect their lives.

For a third option, maybe the system is so strong that if you kill the dimension's master, the plane sucks a new entity into the role of dimension lord. (Think of how Dormammu's flames of regency switched to Umar and Clea.) Plausibly, this would be the nearest and most powerful mystic to the slain lord. Like, the PC who just struck the death-blow, who is now the *new* dimension lord and bound by the same restrictions as Skarn or Tyrannon.

Oops.

(As GM, I would give the PC a brief window in which to use the vast Cosmic Pool "inherited" from the dead dimension lord to restructure Thulkos or the Congeries so the dimension could survive on its own, as a Hod plane. But it would be interesting to see the player's reaction.)

Dean Shomshak

Re: Question for Dean Shomshak

Scott: No, the entities from the Outer Planes can invade Earth at will. The Ban applies only to humanity's gods.

As a setting element, the Ban exists because of the way Steve Long wanted gods to be written -- on thousands of points. See Tezcatlipoca for an example. If dozens (hundreds?) of such entities can be active on Champions-Earth any time they want, it dilutes the impact of human heroes and villains. It also raises the question of how Skarn, Tyrannon or other dimensional conquerors can pose a serious threat to Earth if dozens (hundreds?) of Tezcatlipocas can defend it and have an interest in doing so.

(Which also explains why Mystic World says the supernatural powers of gods don't work against entities from the Outer Planes. The defense of Earth is humanity's responsibility. I forgot to mention it in the book, but all the "dodges" by which gods reduce their power to operate on Earth as PCs also remove that limitation. So, if Tyrannon invades Faerie, the god Ogoun can't fight him in any way but fisticuffs, but the god's mortal avatar, the hero Ogoun, can use all his powers effectively. So can the PC-level demigod Chrysaor because he's not a full god. Etc.)

The Ban is sort of a brute-force solution, I admit, and I'm not entirely happy with it. I wouldn't criticize a GM who adopted some other solution to keep gods from dominating the setting.

Dean Shomshak

Re: [Retro] COTN 5th edition proposal

This might tie into the origins of Saguenay, the extra-dimensional pocket realm ruled by Baron Nihil. Thanks, Dean!

Saguenay? Oh. OH.

See, the west coast of North America is even more of a patchwork than the East. Over hundreds of millions of years, North America has collected dozens of old volcanic islands, shreds of oceanic crust and scraps torn off other continents. In fact, everything from the coast inland to the Rockies consists of such "exotic terranes" (the geological term) that have been swept up and smooshed together.

Until now it didn't occur to me to have the same thing happen metaphysically. Bits get torn off Earth or one of the Parterres, drift through the Astral Plan and merge with another dimension. Astral cysts accrete. Maybe even little Outer Planes stick to bigger dimensions and slowly merge -- a slow, natural version of what Skarn and Tyrannon do by force.

Saguenay could be a North European culture that got erased from Earth by powerful magic or time paradox, but continued to exist as a pocket dimension. Maybe it's all Nihil's dream. Maybe it's a little Outer Plane that Greater Earth swept up. It's only begun to assimilate to Earth. By traveling back and forth, Nihil is speeding the process. At some point, the whole pocket world splices itself into Canada, BLOOP. The event is likely preceded by earthquakes, auroras, rains of toads and other natural and supernatural prodigies. The metaphysical shock might also crack open other prisons and portals. Preventing or easilng the merger could be a suitably epic challenge for heroes.

Dean Shomshak

Re: [Retro] COTN 5th edition proposal

Ah, thank you for the corrections. The program was from 20 years ago, and my memory is imperfect. I guess I conflated "encouraging immigration" with "finally allowing immigrants who aren't white." (Still a significant cultural shift that could be worth exploring. Really, every place is globalizing and a modern setting should robably reflect that.)

I've been mistaken for British too. I assume it was for diction.

Dean Shomshak

Re: [Retro] COTN 5th edition proposal

Thinking of Australia from the distant US...

Layer 1: Geography. Australia's population concentrates around the coast, with a truly vast, sparsely settled interior. I heard an urban legend that government satellates and/or seismographs picked up evidence that parties unknown tested a *nuke* in the Australian desert, with no witnesses. At least none who've come forward. In a super-world, this could be true. The Outback would be a great place for Master Villains to build their Secret Hideouts and build Doomsday Weapons to conquer the world. The Australian military probably has a special department tasked with watching all the supervillain bases that heroes have found and trashed over the years. Good places for origins, too.

Layer Two: Aboriginal. The Dreamtime and all that.

Layer Three: Early British settlement. Tall tale characters, who might have been real and established legacies for heroes and villains.

Layer Four: Mature nation. I am interested in how Australia's foundation myths affect current attitudes to law and order, as it can shape the conduct of heroes and villains.

I remember a documentary program noting Aussies' changing attitudes to accents. Used to be, anyone with social ambitions tried to talk like they went to Eton. Politicians don't do that anymore -- they want to seem authentically Aussie, not some pretender who's ashamed of where he was born.

Mature Australia is as technologically advanced as anyplace in the world, and the superbeings should reflect that.

Level Five: New Immigration. The same program said that after WW2, Australian leaders made a conscious push to encourage immigration from damn near anywhere, never mind about preserving Britishness, because the low population was seen as a military weakness. So Australia gained a lot of immigrants from Asia (and other places, I assume, but SE Asia is closest). Immigrants mean assimilation issues, and you can hardly expect all the cultural influence to be one way. So the idea of a blonde Australian ninja might not be that incongruous. A Shaolin branch temple in the mountains back of Sydney or Brisbane, why not? Maybe one of the monks is developing 'Roo Style Kung Fu. (Or Crocodile Style -- I hear those huge salties in the northern swamps are pretty amazing.)

Dean Shomshak

Re: Things That Exist in a Superhero Universe

Something that makes Earth worth invading by aliens

Or to put it another way, aliens who are enough like humans that Earth, and humanity, are worth conquering. (Given that assumption, it's easy to justify any invasion. For humans, "Because it's there" was historically an adequate justification for attempts at conquest.)

'Course, this assumption isn't unique to superhero settings.

Dean Shomshak

Re: [illo Test] What Tartarus Really Looks Like

Good idea. Until I get the image insertion codes right, you can find Tartarus at http://s1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee439/DShomshak/

Dean Shomshak

Arcane Adversaries and CV2 both illustrated Tartarus, one of the Devil's Advocates characters I created. Neither illo came very close to how I imagined the character (though CV2 was worse). So now I'll try posting my own illo of what he looks like. Let's hope I have the format codes right. (The preview shows a little icon for an illo, but not the illo itself.)

Edit: And the picture isn't appearing. Will re-read instructions and try again.

Edit Edit: Ah-ha! When I copied the URL, I didn't get all of it. This should fix it.

Dean Shomshak

Re: You Don't Have to be Crazy to be a Superhero, but it Helps!

As others have mentioned, though, one big problem with the "Anti-Mutant Hysteria" trope has always been, "How do they know?" It's one thing if a mutant goes around saying, "Look, I'm a mutant!" or has otherwise become widely known as one, but lazy writers effectively gave every Tom, Dick and Harriet a Magic Mutant Detector.

At least one writer -- I forget who -- once had a character (Spider-Man?) meet a fellow who was being chased by a mutant-hating mob despite him yelling, "I'm not a mutant! I was in a lab accident!"

By the 1990s, though, it seemed to me that anti-mutant hysteria was no longer used as a parable for racism and other bigotries. Given that the X-Men and New Mutants were young, mostly good-looking, athletic, lived in a mansion and had super-powers on top of it all, I didn't think they had much to complain about compared to, say, just about anyone. It seemed to me the trope was now a metaphor for adolescent self-absorption -- a world full of stupid meanies who don't realize how *special* you are, when you understand everything so clearly and they don't, you care so much more, yadda yadda yadda...

It's one of the reasons I stopped following the X-titles, and, not long thereafter, all of Marvel. (That, and the inability ever to resolve a subplot. And other crappiness of writing that would e tedius to revisit.)

Dean Shomshak

Re: [Retro] COTN 5th edition proposal

Perhaps apropos of the importance of the Land, Canadian geologists were central in proving there have been multiple cycles of the continents merging and splitting apart, and that a large block of land (dubbed Avalonia -- hmm) split off from proto-Europe, crossed a previous version of the Atlantic, and smacked into North America to become eastern Canada and New England. Also, in the last few decades Canadian geologists made a concerted effort to map the strata of the Laurentian Shield in depth, reconstructing the geological history of North America back through billions of years. Who knows what eon-buried secrets they have found? Or what special inquiries may have used this project as a cover?

Dean Shomshak

Re: Character: Azrael

Yep, that's Azrael all right. Thank you!

Dean Shomshak

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

Oh, and don't believe too much of what you think you know about witch-hunting. It was a complex social phenomenon, with great variation in time and place.

For instance, most people probably don't know that the Spanish Inquisition had, overall, nothing to do with hunting witches. (It hunted heretics, especially backsliding former Jews and Muslims, or jews or Muslims who only pretended to convert.) The professional theologians of the SI had doubts whether witches even existed. There *was* one episode of witch-hunting, driven by popular demand. Once the inquisitors started, the accusations and confessions multiplied.

However, one of the inquisitors thought the whole thing smelled fishy. Alonso Salazar de Frias did something no one before him thought to do: He checked the stories and found that the details didn't add up. As in, he had people hiding at the places and times that the witch's sabbaths supposedly took place, and nobody showed up. Or, he knew the witch wasn't whisked out of his/her cell by magic to go to the sabbath because he had people watching them.

In his final report to Inquisition Central, he laid out in detail how the interrogation process generated false confessions and false accusations against other people. It was probably the world's first sociological study. The SI promptly freed the accused witches still in jail. From then on, Spanish canon law held accusations of witchcraft to pretty stiff standards of proof -- and leveling a false accusation was a crime.

In England, OTOH, witch-hunting seems to have been connected to changes in class and social structure. Modern studies of the old witch trial records show that in many cases, the person accused of witchcraft was a poor relation of the accuser. It appears the witch accusation was often used by the emerging middle class to rid itself of poor relations who tried to invoke traditional economic obligations among family. (You also had such entrepreneurs as Matthew Hopkins, self-styled Witchfinder-General, who had their own financial interests.)

In Germany, yeah, a lot of witch-hunts seem to have been coopted by the local bishop or burgomaster as a way to acquire land and money. But there was also unquestioning popular belief and fear of witches for centuries. One of the broad patterns that emerges is that witch hunts were usually pushed by local authorities, in places where wider church and state authority were weak.

The end of European witch-hunting was as complex as its other aspects. In England, for instance, witch accusations ended abruptly. A woman was accused of being a witch; as evidence, her accuser claimed to have seen her flying on a broomstick. The judge, Lord Mansfield, ruled that he knew of no English statute that specifically forbade flying on broomsticks, and the woman was welcome to do so if this was within her power. It was England's last witch trial.

lesson>

Dean Shomshak

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

In my long-running Seattle Sentinels/Keystone Konjurors series of campaigns, I began with the standard "Golden Age/Silver Age Reboot/More from there" setup, in part because one of my first players wanted his character to be a legacy hero.

If I start up a brand-new campaign, I think I'll have the first costumed heroes and villains appearing in the 1980s. That still leaves time for legacy characters and for some heroes and villains to have built up reps, some super-technologies to have matured, etc. But nothing before that. Well, maybe. It might be that there was an earlier Age of Heroes -- early Bronze Age, in fact a whole cycle of civilization that mostly erased itself from history through time paradox. (My current campaign thoughts have time travel being an important element.)

But things are still up in the air.

Dean Shomshak

Re: Character: Azrael

Oookay... That was an odd repetition of words, and it doesn't show up when I try to edit. Oh well.

Here's the character sheet for Doctor Chaim Perlman, Azrael's Creator.

[bEGIN CHARACTER SHEET]

<3>Doctor Chaim Perlman

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

5 STR -5 10- Lift 50 kg; 1d6 HTH damage [1]

8 DEX -4 11-

8 CON -2 11-

25 INT 15 14- PER Roll 14-

18 EGO 8 13-

13 PRE 3 12- PRE Attack: 2 1/2d6

3 OCV 0

3 DCV 0

6 OMCV 6

6 DMCV 6

2 SPD 0 Phases: 6, 12

2 PD 0 Total: 2 PD (0 rPD)

2 ED 0 Total: 2 ED (0 rED)

4 REC 0

20 END 0

8 BODY -2

20 STUN 0 Characteristics Cost: 25

Movement: Running: 10m

Cost Powers END

64 Recreate Azrael: Summon 800-point Tulpa [1c]

Specific Being (+1); 1 Charge (-2), No Conscious Control (-2), No Control Over Azrael (-0)

3 Terrible Intimacy: Mind Link x1 to Azrael, Psychic Bond 0

No Conscious Control (-2)

-2 Slowed With Age: Running –2m (10m total) 1

Skills

3 +1 Guns

3 Deduction 14-

3 Electronics 14-

3 Inventor 14-

3 KS: Talmud 14-

2 KS: Kabbalah 11-

3 Language: Hebrew (completely fluent; English is native)

2 Language: German (fluent conversation)

3 Scientist

4 1) General Physics 16-

2 2) Cosmology 14-

2 3) Mathematics 14-

2 4) Metaphysics and Ontology 14-

2 5) Particle Physics 14-

Total Powers & Skills Cost: 102

Total Cost: 127

100 Matching Complications (30)

15 Distinctive Features: Mystic Aura of Creation and Destruction (Not Concealable; Always Noticed, Strong Reaction; Detectable Only With Unusual Senses)

25 Hunted: Azrael (Very Frequently, More Powerful, Perlman is easy to find, Mildly Punish [torment him while “protecting” him])

15 Psychological Complication: Consumed with Despair (Common, Strong)

Total Complications Points: 30

Experience Points: 27

[END CHARACTER SHEET]

Description: In his youth, Chaim Perlman trained as both a physicist and a rabbi. Science won over theology and philosophy, to the disappointment of teachers who thought Perlman would be the next Maimonides or Hillel — or else the next great heretic. When true genius meets Talmud, there’s not much room in between. In the decades he spent researching quantum chromodynamics, electroweak unification and other frontiers of physics, though, Perlman never forgot his theological studies. He married late, had three lovely children, and was a loving husband and father. Though he paid little attention to politics, he favored making peace with the Palestinians and other Arabs. As he liked to say, “Science has no borders; protons have no tribes.”

Then, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a restaurant while Perlman was at a scientific conference. Perlman’s wife and children were among the casualties. Perlman realized he’d been a naïve fool to imagine that a life devoted to truth would shield him from an ugly world. He raged against God and Fate, sought consolation in physics and philosophy, but the equations of rage and grief defied solution. At the edge of madness, though, he saw connections between ideas he had never seriously tried to link before. Working to exhaustion month after month, merging physics with metaphysics, he saw how to wrest the creative fire from the hand of God and bend it to his will.

Perlman tried not to think about revenge. He told himself this was a boon to humanity, possibly the first step in calling loved ones back from death. But the thought was there. Revenge. Kill them all. For every action, an equal and opposite reaction.

So Chaim Perlman built his machine and called Azrael into existence. But his hatred could not both take physical form and remain in his soul. His mind was clear once more… to learn the true horror of what he had done.

After that, Chaim Perlman fled from country to country, trying to escape his creation. The third time Azrael caught up to him, Perlman killed himself in remorse — and plunged to new depths of despair when Azrael brought him back. Perlman thought God had finally forgiven him when the Windy City Warriors defeated and apparently destroyed Azrael — but six months later, some street toughs tried shaking down the old man for money, and Azrael reappeared in thunder and fire. “Creator,” the monster said as he laid the punks’ crushed bodies at Perlman’s feet. “You know I will never abandon you.”

Chaim Perlman gave up working on the metaphysical equations that birthed Azrael. Once he hoped to find the key to unmaking his creation. No longer: He does not believe God will grant him the mercy of a techno-fix. No, the only solution is that they must die together, creator and creation, so that neither can bring the other one back. Until then he travels the world, visiting physics conferences and old colleagues, hoping to stay ahead of Azrael until the day he hears that the monster is dead again.

To most people, Perlman is just a gaunt man with gray hair and haunted eyes, looking older than his 50-some years. Other scientists pity him: Perlman was once a leading light in physics, but now they think he’s a bit of a has-been and a crank. Mystics, however, might sense that Perlman radiates the aura of an apocalyptic god, crackling with the primal cosmic energies that create and destroy worlds. Telepaths who probe Perlman’s mind might accidentally open the erratic psychic bond between the scientist and his creation. They will not find touching the mind of Azrael pleasant… especially when they feel the creature’s outrage that anyone should so defile his Creator’s mind, and realize the dark angel has marked them for death.

Dean Shomshak

The last character I posted, Tress, was a joke. Azrael... isn't. He's sort of a mystical character, though.

[bEGIN CHARACTER SHEET]

<3>Azrael

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

60 STR 50 21- Lift 100 t; 12d6 HTH damage [6]

23 DEX 26 14-

30 CON 20 15-

18 INT 8 13- PER Roll 13-

18 EGO 8 13-

30 PRE 20 15- PRE Attack: 6d6

8 OCV 25

8 DCV 25

8 OMCV 15

8 DMCV 15

6 SPD 40 Phases: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12

35 PD 33 Total: 35 PD (20 rPD)

35 ED 33 Total: 35 ED (20 rED)

20 REC 16

60 END 8

20 BODY 10

60 STUN 20 Characteristics Cost: 372

Movement: Running: 12m

Flight: 34m/544m

Teleport: 44m

Cost Powers END

82 Deadly Angelic Powers: Multipower, 82-point reserve

8f 1) Burning Light Blast: RKA 4d6+1 3

Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4)

8f 2) Burning Light Burst: Blast 11d6 8

Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +1/2)

8f 3) Flare of Light: Sight Group Flash 9d6 3

Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4)

8f 4) Freezing Dark Blast: Drain BODY 6 1/2d6 3

Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4)

8f 5) Freezing Dark Burst: Blast 6d6 8

AVAD (defense is Power Defense; +1), Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +1/2), Personal Immunity (+1/4)

8f 6) Numbing, Icy Night: Darkness to Sight and Touch Groups, 10m radius 3

Personal Immunity (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4)

8f 7) Mingled Burst: RKA 2d6 8

+2 Increased STUN Multiplier (+1/2), Penetrating (+1/2), Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +1/2), Personal Immunity (+1/4)

5f 8) Annihilating Touch: RKA 1d6+1 3

NND (defense is Hardened/Impenetrable Resistant Defense; +1), Does BODY (+1), Area Of Effect (personal Surface — Damage Shield; +1/4), Constant (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4); No Range (-1/2)

8f 9) Mind Over Matter: Telekinesis (30 STR) 3

Area Of Effect (Selective 4m Radius; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4)

8f 10) Command Unworthy Mortals: Mind Control 13d6 3

Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4)

4f 11) Seek the Doomed: Mind Scan 10d6, +16 MCV 8

Cannot Attack Through Link (either way; -1)

2f 12) Resurrect Doctor Perlman: Summon 130 point mortal 4

Specific Being (+1); Cannot Demand Tasks (-1), Need Perlman’s Corpse (-1)

35 Wings of Night: Multipower, 52-point reserve

All Restrainable (-1/2)

3f 1) Soar through Mortal Skies: Flight 32m, x8 Noncombat 2

Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4)

3f 2) Vanish In Thunder: Teleportation 42m, x8 Mass 5

30 Nigh Invulnerable: Resistant (+1/2) on 20 PD/20 ED 0

Hardened (+1/4), Impenetrable (+1/4)

17 Nigh Invulnerable: Hardened (+1/4) on 35 PD/35 ED 0

17 Nigh Invulnerable: Impenetrable (+1/4) on 35 PD/35 ED 0

10 Burning Gaze: Sight Group Flash Defense (10 points) 0

5 Burning Gaze: Nightvision 0

6 Burning Gaze: +4 versus Range Modifiers for Sight Group 0

10 Relentless Will: Mental Defense (10 points) 0

7 Spiritual Substance: Power Defense (7 points) 0

45 Spiritual Substance: Life Support: Total (includes Longevity: Immortality) 0

19 Virtually Unkillable: Regeneration (1 BODY per Turn), Can Heal Limbs 0

Talents

3 Ambidexterity (no Off Hand penalty)

3 Striking Appearance: terrifying glory, +1/1d6

20 Universal Translator 13-

Skills

20 +2 All Combat

3 Acrobatics 14-

3 Breakfall 14-

3 Interrogation 15-

3 Oratory 15-

Total Powers & Skills Cost: 430

Total Cost: 802

400 Matching Complications (75)

10 DNPC: Doctor Perlman (Creator) (Frequently, Normal, Noncombat Skills)

20 Hunted: Governments worldwide (Frequently, As Pow, NCI, Capture/Kill)

15 Negative Reputation: Demented mass murderer, 11- (Extreme)

20 Psychological Complication: Exists only to cause death and destruction (Common, Total)

20 Psychological Complication: Obsessive/Protective of Dr. Perlman (Common, Total)

10 Psychological Complication: Frightened and confused by kindness and mercy (Uncommon, Strong)

15 Susceptibility: to being forced to act against his nature, takes 3d6 damage instantly (Uncommon)

15 Vulnerability: x1 ½ STUN, BODY, Mental Effect from Kabbalistic magic (Uncommon)

Total Complications Points: 75

Experience Points: 401

[END CHARACTER SHEET]

Background/History: Chaim Perlman hated Palestinians with a deep, bitter passion. He was not alone; many other Israelis lost families to Palestinian terrorist attacks, or in wars with the Palestinians’ Arab backers. Not so many Israelis were also brilliant physicists, engineers — and philosophers learned in metaphysics, Talmud and Kabbalah. After his family’s murder, Perlman retreated into his research, spending every waking moment with the equations he hoped would unlock the secret of reality itself.

Perlman made a breakthrough. Thoughts and symbols were as real as matter and energy, and all could be converted into each other. His colleagues made polite noises when he tried to explain his discovery, and sadly shook their heads behind his back. Perlman was a fine teacher, and a good researcher in his younger days, they told each other, but obviously the tragedy had affected his mind.

So Perlman built a machine to test his theory: a machine to turn thoughts into reality. He attached the many electrodes to his head. The scientist began by imagining a small metal sphere, but grief and rage invaded his thoughts. As he had so many times before, Perlman brooded on his losses and yearned for revenge. Darkness curdled in the materialization booth, shot through with lightning and fire. The booth shattered and every circuit burned out. Before Perlman stood a mighty figure, an angel of fire and shadow. Azrael, the Angel of Death.

Perlman saw his creation and reeled with anguish and remorse. He tried to stop the dark angel from its horrific task, and Azrael laughed.

“Desist? Have mercy? You created me to destroy your enemies, and destroy I shall! But I will return to you, Creator. You will never escape me.”

And Azrael vanished from the lab in a crash of thunder and black fire, to begin his genocidal reign of terror.

Chaim Perlman left Israel. He has fled his creation for years, to no avail. Wherever in the world he goes, Azrael finds him again, and sets about to kill anyone who could be an enemy of his Creator. Even death gives no escape — for Azrael can raise Perlman from the dead.

Personality/Motivation: Azrael is a creature of pure hatred, untouched with any hint of moral scruples. At first Azrael just killed Palestinians, but he soon expanded his field. Azrael hates everyone and everything in the world. In fact, he even hates Perlman, despite his seeming devotion. Azrael destroys anyone who might oppose Perlman, and he destroys anyone who might help the scientist. The death-angel wants it to be just the two of them, bound by a mutual hatred more intimate than love. If the rest of the world keeps getting in the way, then the rest of the world will have to go.

“Sometimes, my Creator, I dream… of a perfect, barren world, cleansed in fire except for You and myself, together among the bones, forever…”

Quote: “Why? I am as my Creator made me, as are we all. My nature is to kill… as yours is to die.”

Powers/Tactics: Azrael is not really an angel. Rather, he is a tulpa — a materialized imaginary creature — created through a blend of science and mysticism. Doctor Perlman has never tried to reconstruct his machine and would rather die than do so. The death-angel seems to be unkillable: If destroyed, it reappears the next time Perlman feels great fear, pain or anger, ready to protect its Creator once more.

In addition to great strength and resistance to damage, Azrael has many energy-based powers, some of brilliant white fire and others of icy, opaque darkness. He can also move or grab targets using Telekinesis or dominate individuals as a way to set people up for their deaths or to make them help him (if only for a little while) in one of his murderous schemes. He often grabs opponents with Telekinesis to then pummel them with his fists, or attacks hand-to-hand under cover of Numbing, Icy Night. In combat, Azrael is vicious but not especially subtle or clever. One foe can easily distract him from finishing off another.

While Azrael murders people with great enthusiasm, he knows that he can’t kill really large numbers of people with his bare hand and powers. To this end he tries to break dams, cause toxic chemical spills, collapse skyscrapers, and the like. All that keeps him from starting a nuclear war is his inability to launch missiles once he’s got them: governments set very tight safeguards against unauthorized launch or detonation. So far, Azrael has never mustered the patience for a really devious plot to trick a government into using its nuclear weapons.

Campaign Use: Azrael is a straightforward homicidal monster given a twist. If Azrael appears, Perlman is likely nearby; Perlman may be the best resource to explain the crazed logic behind the death-angel’s rampage. Azrael is almost certain to Hunt anyone who threatens Perlman, or who helps the scientist flee his creation.

The death-angel presents heroes with an additional challenge in how they deal with Chaim Perlman. Azrael cannot be destroyed permanently as long as Perlman lives. The only way to end Azrael’s threat forever is for him and Perlman to die before either resurrects the other. Perlman killed himself once already in guilt over Azrael’s crimes: He is okay with dying again to make sure Azrael cannot return. The PCs may feel differently.

To make Azrael more powerful, double the reserve of his Angelic Powers Multipower so he can use two slots at once (plus still using his vast strength). To reduce Azrael’s power, make his defenses no longer Hardened and Impenetrable, and/or reduce the Active Points of his Angelic Powers.

Appearance: Azrael is a powerfully built man standing 6’5” tall, with jet-black skin and eyes of blue-white fire. He would be extraordinarily handsome in a hard-edged, blunt-featured way if not for his cold, contemptuous expression. Deep black, feathered wings rise from his shoulders. He dresses in sandals and a white loincloth on a silver belt. His brow carries a silver coronet set with diamonds.

[bEGIN BOXED TEXT]

<3>Azrael Plot Seeds

• A master villain learns how Perlman created Azrael and wants the secret for himself. Can the heroes rescue the scientist before the villain forces him to reveal how to evoke monsters from the id? Azrael also tries to rescue his Creator, but there is no chance of a team-up, and the death-angel’s assault will cause a lot of collateral damage.

• Perlman finds a fellow scientist who is willing to try building a weapon that can kill Azrael. He hopes to lure the monster into a trap. The scientist, however, is actually a supervillain who just wants Perlman’s help in designing a new super-weapon. As the criminal scientist steals the components for his super-weapon, Azrael comes to town. Even if the PCs follow the trail to the supervillain and Perlman, do they stop the plot? Or do they just try to make sure the weapon is, in fact, used against Azrael? The death-angel, meanwhile, immediately decides to kill the villain and the heroes, then use the super-weapon himself.

• A mystic who doesn’t know the true story of Azrael’s origin thinks the monster really is one of God’s angels of wrath and punishment who has somehow escaped proper direction. The mystic asks the PCs to help capture Azrael so the death-angel can be returned to Elysium. What happens if the PCs succeed, carry the captured Azrael to Elysium and then hear, “Sorry, not one of ours?”

[END BOXED TEXT]

[bEGIN SIDEBAR]

<3>Azrael Facts

Here are some facts that characters and NPCs might know about Azrael if they succeed with an appropriate Skill Roll:

N/R: Azrael, self-styled Angel of Death, seems interested only in killing large numbers of people. The black-skinned, black-winged creature has diverse powers: super-strength and invulnerability, destructive beams and blasts of light and darkness, flight, teleportation and more.

K/R: Azrael also has mental powers. People must obey his commands, and he can find individuals no matter where they flee and hide.

-1: Azrael has been “killed” at least once, but the body dissolved and Azrael reappeared several months later, so the death-angel may be a true spirit. His first rampage took place in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, but since then Azrael has massacred people in many places around the world. He has fought several heroes — and villains too, when he tried exterminating entire cities through poison gas, fire or high-powered military weapons.

-2: Sometimes, Azrael seeks out specific people to kill for reasons unknown. Some rampages follow a pattern of killing specific people, then other folk connected to those people, and then an attempt at a general massacre.

-4: Azrael is not a genuine spirit. He pursues the physicist Chaim Perlman, who accidentally created Azrael by means unknown.

-6: Azrael’s creation was not an accident, but Perlman now regrets it. Azrael can raise Perlman from the dead, and Azrael cannot truly die while Perlman still lives. Many of Azrael’s rampages are insanely overblown attempts to protect Perlman or avenge harm done to him.

[END SIDEBAR]

Dean Shomshak

Re: You Don't Have to be Crazy to be a Superhero, but it Helps!

The Zodiac Working is one of my favorite possible origins in the CU, the potential of which has barely been touched. And the origin of Evil Eye (Champions Villains Vol. 3) suggests Archimago could have left any number of contingency plans underway.

Ohh yes. Not the only "gotcha last" at all. But that's off topic.

And I like devising origin stories that GMs can reuse. Also off topic.

The CU's three great dimensional conquerors supply a nice compare-and-contrast for villain mentality.

Tyrannon is arguably insane in the legal sense, in that he cannot choose to act otherwise. That he can be balked temporarily argues against this, but still, he is unusually monomaniac even for a master villain. The Tyrannon who first attacked and consumed another Thulkosian mage-god made a moral choice. The creature he became does not have a choice any longer. No more than a rabid dog or a cancer cell.

Skarn, OTOH, is genuinely nuts without being legally insane. He has free will; he makes meaningful choices; in most respects he interacts with reality in an effective way. He doesn't need to conquer in the way Tyrannon does. He just starts from the delusional premise that the Multiverse exists to create him so he can rule it all. As such, he can be held responsible for his actions in a way that Tyrannon cannot. (The Cosmic Cancer doesn't need to be punished. He needs to be excised. Or cured, but that could be even more difficult.)

Finally, Istvatha V'han does not seem to be insane, in that she can still make meaningful choices and can tell what's real and what's not. She's not crazy in that she doesn't seem to have any major delusions. She's just very, very ambitious. (At least, going by the information in Conquerors, Killers and Crooks and CV: Master Villains.) Considering her success so far, her ambitions do not even seem unrealistic.

Whether Istavatha V'han is evil depends on your view of unprovoked aggression and conquest. Most people through most of human history thought this was just fine, as long as they were doing the aggressing and conquering. She's adversarial, and that's enough.

Dean Shomshak

Re: You Don't Have to be Crazy to be a Superhero, but it Helps!

I'm reminded of a degree of controversy over the CU's resident Archlich, Takofanes. Some people questioned his mental competence based on the fact he's been active in the modern world since 1987, and to date has apparently accomplished nothing more than random destruction. My feeling is that there's a fundamental conflict between the expectations for a comic-book Master Villain, such as Dr. Destroyer, versus a fantasy Dark Lord, which is Takofanes' background. If you read about Kal-turak/ Takofanes' activities in The Turakian Age, you see that he operated much like Tolkien's Sauron: patiently spending centuries building his power base, while subtly weakening and subverting those who would stand against him. When Kal-turak finally struck with overwhelming force, the world was unprepared to withstand him, and he conquered it and ruled for many generations of Men. It would be reasonable to expect him to follow the same tactics today, even though he seems like a sluggard compared to other Master Villains.

(I admit, I dislike Takofanes for reasons that have nothing to do with the character himself. First, I got there first, dammit, with Archimago. Second, Big T is designed to link two settings and genres, and I thought that linking all the HERO published settings into one big meta-setting was a bad idea the moment I heard of it. I still do. But that is a different topic.)

Getting to the point, I've thought it might be a fun "reveal" to have heroes, after great effort and danger, penetrate the mind of Takofanes... and find there's nothing there. Tens of thousands of years of imprisonment are too much even for an undead arch-wizard. His ego crumbled, leaving only fragments of knowledge and a force of magic that keeps him going through the motions.

Dean Shomshak

Re: You Don't Have to be Crazy to be a Superhero, but it Helps!

Looked at from a real-world perspective' date=' that's a very reasonable assessment. However, we're also dealing with the conventions and expectations of the comic-book genre. Master Villains in the comics routinely launch massive schemes designed to gain their desires at a single stroke. While that certainly reeks of impractical rampant megalomania, it also creates a single crisis and threat for superheroes to confront and defeat, which suits the dramatic and storytelling requirements of the classic comic-book format. Long, subtle plots that gradually, quietly accumulate power are probably more practical, but unless they come to a head in a big way there won't be the grand showdown and dustup that most of us comic-readers want to see.[/quote']

 

Hey, I know and love the story conventions too! It's still amusing now and then to step back and critique them from another perspective.

 

Dean Shomshak

Re: You Don't Have to be Crazy to be a Superhero, but it Helps!

Heh. I'm just amused by all the "Gaining powers twisted his mind" statements in supervillain origin stories (it's practically a refrain in Champions: Villains I, II and III). Outside of satires such as the Guide to a Nonexistent Universe, though, I've never seen a hero's origin story use that line to explain why a formerly normal person who suddenly gains super-powers decides they should put on a costume and fight crime. I mean, if the metamorphosis of empowerment can cause one form of warped thought, why not the other?

While I have used the "twisted his mind" bit for villains whose origin was especially traumatic, usually I try to suggest they weren't very nice people before they had powers. Conversely, in heroic origin stories I often try to suggest that characters had heroic qualities already and gaining powers just lets them do good on a larger scale or more direct manner.

It's also worth considering that most notions of "normal" or "sane" behavior are based on people having a certain degree of power, i.e. almost none. When you can punch through an armored car, shoot laser beams from your eyes, fly or read people's minds, your choices become somewhat wider. Or at least your calculations of consequences change.

To return to the Doctor Destroyer example, he isn't crazy because he wants to conquer the world. He's crazy because he keeps trying to conquer the world through one grand gesture of overwhelming power. It's not hard to think of other, slower plans that would have a better chance of success.

Dean Shomshak

Re: Arcane Adversaries Outtake: TRESS!

I have to ask this and you'll hate me for it.

 

What happens to those who insult her and Is she ever asked if her base is in the 7 Hells ?

ie What happens if you dis Tress ? and Are you in Dis, Tress ?

Your puns about my character pass all bounds of decency. Nevertheless, I shall forgive your Tress pass.

Dean Shomshak

Re: Arcane Adversaries Outtake: TRESS!

Professor?

 

Tell me more about fashion magic.

For a start, see p. 105 of Ultimate Mystic. Text box, "Robe/Costume." Once upon a time, a certain kind of gown meant you were a scholar and/or priest, and therefore entitled and able to to control powers unknown to common men.

Fashion is all about controlling reality -- at least social reality, how other people see you -- through symbol and image. It's very magical.

Dean Shomshak