DShomshak

As others have said, a lot depends on how restrictive you want to be, with "Just one origin event" comparable to the Marvel New U White Event as an extreme case.
 
But it sounds like you just want to prune things down -- not every powered armor character invented their tech ex nihilo, not so many "secret projects," etc. For which I fully agree! Like, Hugh Neilson mentioned the Armor Wars: To me it seems both plausible and artistically satisfying that yes, inventors are copying armor designs. Even just knowing that something has been done is, historically, a very good start for a competent scientist or engineer to duplicate it.
 
At risk of immodesty, let me mention that I wrote a few supplements based on just such premises: the SHARED ORIGINS series, all available from the HERO Store:
Shared Origins: Sky-Q. It's the "Smart Drug" that really works. Sometimes it works too well -- with some unfortunate side effects. Along with the brilliant technological breakthroughs, users tend to develop bizarre criminal obsessions. This is your source for nutty theme gadget villains! And some who aren't so nutty. And maybe some who are downright monsters.
Shared Origins: The Dynatron. Mauro Fuentes, a.k.a. Red Giant, invented a machine that can give anyone super-powers. After a brief career as a supervillain, he got smart and started selling origins to other people. Being the world's premier "power vendor" has not worked out as well as he hoped. But if you have the money -- he has the power.
Shared Origins: The Green Butterfly. This book of magic tells how to gain super-powers... if you're lucky. If you aren't lucky, you may suffer a fate that would make death a mercy. But if you're up on your occultism and willing to take a BIG chance, you can become a nascent demigod. Several copies are extant. Is somebody making more?
Dean Shomshak
 
ADDENDUM: Also, each of these mini-books has an appendix giving brief descriptions of three other Shared Origins that follow a similar theme, which you can develop for yourself. So, three other Origin Substances, Power Vendors, and Dangerous Choices.

As others have said, a lot depends on how restrictive you want to be, with "Just one origin event" comparable to the Marvel New U White Event as an extreme case.
 
But it sounds like you just want to prune things down -- not every powered armor character invented their tech ex nihilo, not so many "secret projects," etc. For which I fully agree! Like, Hugh Neilson mentioned the Armor Wars: To me it seems both plausible and artistically satisfying that yes, inventors are copying armor designs. Even just knowing that something has been done is, historically, a very good start for a competent scientist or engineer to duplicate it.
 
At risk of immodesty, let me mention that I wrote a few supplements based on just such premises: the SHARED ORIGINS series, all available from the HERO Store:
Shared Origins: Sky-Q. It's the "Smart Drug" that really works. Sometimes it works too well -- with some unfortunate side effects. Along with the brilliant technological breakthroughs, users tend to develop bizarre criminal obsessions. This is your source for nutty theme gadget villains! And some who aren't so nutty. And maybe some who are downright monsters.
Shared Origins: The Dynatron. Mauro Fuentes, a.k.a. Red Giant, invented a machine that can give anyone super-powers. After a brief career as a supervillain, he got smart and started selling origins to other people. Being the world's premier "power vendor" has not worked out as well as he hoped. But if you have the money -- he has the power.
Shared Origins: The Green Butterfly. This book of magic tells how to gain super-powers... if you're lucky. If you aren't lucky, you may suffer a fate that would make death a mercy. But if you're up on your occultism and willing to take a BIG chance, you can become a nascent demigod. Several copies are extant. Is somebody making more?
Dean Shomshak
 
ADDENDUM: Also, each of these mini-books has an appendix giving brief descriptions of three other Shared Origins that follow a similar theme, which you can develop for yourself. So, three other Origin Substances, Power Vendors, and Dangerous Choices.

As others have said, a lot depends on how restrictive you want to be, with "Just one origin event" comparable to the Marvel New U White Event as an extreme case.
 
But it sounds like you just want to prune things down -- not every powered armor character invented their tech ex nihilo, not so many "secret projects," etc. For which I fully agree! Like, Hugh Neilson mentioned the Armor Wars: To me it seems both plausible and artistically satisfying that yes, inventors are copying armor designs. Even just knowing that something has been done is, historically, a very good start for a competent scientist or engineer to duplicate it.
 
At risk of immodesty, let me mention that I wrote a few supplements based on just such premises: the SHARED ORIGINS series, all available from the HERO Store:
Shared Origins: Sky-Q. It's the "Smart Drug" that really works. Sometimes it works too well -- with some unfortunate side effects. Along with the brilliant technological breakthroughs, users tend to develop bizarre criminal obsessions. This is your source for nutty theme gadget villains! And some who aren't so nutty. And maybe some who are downright monsters.
Shared Origins: The Dynatron. Mauro Fuentes, a.k.a. Red Giant, invented a machine that can give anyone super-powers. After a brief career as a supervillain, he got smart and started selling origins to other people. Being the world's premier "power vendor" has not worked out as well as he hoped. But if you have the money -- he has the power.
Shared Origins: The Green Butterfly. This book of magic tells how to gain super-powers... if you're lucky. If you aren't lucky, you may suffer a fate that would make death a mercy. But if you're up on your occultism and willing to take a BIG chance, you can become a nascent demigod. Several copies are extant. Is somebody making more?
Dean Shomshak
 
ADDENDUM: Also, each of these mini-books has an appendix giving brief descriptions of three other Shared Origins that follow a similar theme, which you can develop for yourself. So, three other Origin Substances, Power Vendors, and Dangerous Choices.

Six days since my brother tested negative for Covid two days in a row, and none of use caught Covid yet. *Whew.*
 
Dean Shomshak

The January, 2023 issue of Scientific American includes this excellent sentenc e in an article about the 2022 Physics Nobel Prize winners, John Clauser, Alain Aspect, and Anton Zilinger:
 
"Colleagues agree the trio had it coming, deserving this reckoning for overthrowing reality as we know it."
 
The article is, "The Universe Is Not Locally Real." It's about quantum entanglement.
 
Dean Shomshak

Six days since my brother tested negative for Covid two days in a row, and none of use caught Covid yet. *Whew.*
 
Dean Shomshak

Yes, but that's a game thing separate from what Assault asked. First you work out what halflings are by themselves. Then you work out what they are with other people.
 
It's worth remembering that in LotR, it was an important feature of the world that Men, Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits had pretty much gone their own ways for thousands of years. A few points of contact such as Bree and Dale, but mostly separate. The Fellowship of the Ring was the first endeavor to involve all four races since, well, ever. It was Tolkien's imitators, and especially D&D, that shoved everyone together and nobody was particularly strange to anyone else.
 
Tolkien shaped four distinct races (orcs, too) from a melange of folklore that didn't draw such distinctions among the faerie-folk -- and they were all Hidden Folk, not just the short ones. Nothing decreed that he had to create dwarves, elves, hobbits and orcs as he did, or as gamers have subsequently adapted them. So I repeat: Go back to the source. It might be a useful exercise to reverse-engineer hobbits from the folklore: work out what Tolkien used, and what he was trying to achieve. Then you can probably rebuilt the Sma;ll Folk to suit yourself.
 
 
Or, you know, don't. If the only reason you're even trying to make halflings "work" for you is that people expect them 'cuz D&D, you probably shouldn't waste your time. You probably won't b e happy with the result; and if you aren't having fun runnin g the game, your players probably won't have fun either.
 
Dean Shomshak

And a bazillion legends from around the world about the small folk who are rarely seen. That's where Tolkien got his hobbits (with a fair bit of his own imagination). Return to the source and do as he did.
 
When I ran my Fantasy Europa alternate-history campaign I didn't get much opportunity to use my version of halflings -- or three versions, really, because I gave them three main cultural divisions. Regular "halflings" had assimilated into human society. Savants are sure they are simply a shorter version of humans. But it's also pretty well established that they are the first folk of Europe.
 
Halflings who didn't assimilate are generally called Picts, Pygmies, Pisgies, or other variations; or Brownies, Bwca, Boggarts, Huldre, Kobolds, or many other names. None of these are what they call themselves. They still live in hiding out in the countryside. Local folk sometimes make tacit bargains with them: The farmer who lets the Hidden Folk glean his fields after the harvest finds fewer foxes getting into the henhouse. Or the reverse can happen. The Hidden Folk have their own ancient religion and mythology, preserving many secrets su ch as from when the elves came, and the Wild Huntsman's true name.
 
But a few of the Hidden Folk strike back against the larger folk who occupy land they still regard as theirs. They are Goblins, the terror in the dark or under the bed, masters of dagger, dart and poison. Up the airy mountain/Down the rushy glen/We daren't go a-hunting/For fear of little men...
 
Like I said, it's an idea I never got the chance to develop much. Maybe I'll get a chance some other time.
 
Dean Shomshak

An interesting editorial here. The pundit makes a good point about how the new Republican party is in some senses making Congress more "democratic," which doesn't sound "authoritarian." But I think the writer misses the point that one can be anti-institutional and still be rabidly authoritarian. The question is where the authority lies. Part of what makes fascism fascist is the lack of due process: Institutions operate by the whim of the leader, the party, or the mob. And from what I can see, the core grievance of MAGATs is that the formal machinery of law and government denies them the cultural dominance they seek, in which people like them can wield arbitrary power over everyone else. In which case, offices stripped of power and institutions in chaos suit them very well.
 
The Kevin McCarthy speaker debacle has a silver lining (msn.com)
 
Dean Shomshak

And a bazillion legends from around the world about the small folk who are rarely seen. That's where Tolkien got his hobbits (with a fair bit of his own imagination). Return to the source and do as he did.
 
When I ran my Fantasy Europa alternate-history campaign I didn't get much opportunity to use my version of halflings -- or three versions, really, because I gave them three main cultural divisions. Regular "halflings" had assimilated into human society. Savants are sure they are simply a shorter version of humans. But it's also pretty well established that they are the first folk of Europe.
 
Halflings who didn't assimilate are generally called Picts, Pygmies, Pisgies, or other variations; or Brownies, Bwca, Boggarts, Huldre, Kobolds, or many other names. None of these are what they call themselves. They still live in hiding out in the countryside. Local folk sometimes make tacit bargains with them: The farmer who lets the Hidden Folk glean his fields after the harvest finds fewer foxes getting into the henhouse. Or the reverse can happen. The Hidden Folk have their own ancient religion and mythology, preserving many secrets su ch as from when the elves came, and the Wild Huntsman's true name.
 
But a few of the Hidden Folk strike back against the larger folk who occupy land they still regard as theirs. They are Goblins, the terror in the dark or under the bed, masters of dagger, dart and poison. Up the airy mountain/Down the rushy glen/We daren't go a-hunting/For fear of little men...
 
Like I said, it's an idea I never got the chance to develop much. Maybe I'll get a chance some other time.
 
Dean Shomshak

And a bazillion legends from around the world about the small folk who are rarely seen. That's where Tolkien got his hobbits (with a fair bit of his own imagination). Return to the source and do as he did.
 
When I ran my Fantasy Europa alternate-history campaign I didn't get much opportunity to use my version of halflings -- or three versions, really, because I gave them three main cultural divisions. Regular "halflings" had assimilated into human society. Savants are sure they are simply a shorter version of humans. But it's also pretty well established that they are the first folk of Europe.
 
Halflings who didn't assimilate are generally called Picts, Pygmies, Pisgies, or other variations; or Brownies, Bwca, Boggarts, Huldre, Kobolds, or many other names. None of these are what they call themselves. They still live in hiding out in the countryside. Local folk sometimes make tacit bargains with them: The farmer who lets the Hidden Folk glean his fields after the harvest finds fewer foxes getting into the henhouse. Or the reverse can happen. The Hidden Folk have their own ancient religion and mythology, preserving many secrets su ch as from when the elves came, and the Wild Huntsman's true name.
 
But a few of the Hidden Folk strike back against the larger folk who occupy land they still regard as theirs. They are Goblins, the terror in the dark or under the bed, masters of dagger, dart and poison. Up the airy mountain/Down the rushy glen/We daren't go a-hunting/For fear of little men...
 
Like I said, it's an idea I never got the chance to develop much. Maybe I'll get a chance some other time.
 
Dean Shomshak

Yes, but that's a game thing separate from what Assault asked. First you work out what halflings are by themselves. Then you work out what they are with other people.
 
It's worth remembering that in LotR, it was an important feature of the world that Men, Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits had pretty much gone their own ways for thousands of years. A few points of contact such as Bree and Dale, but mostly separate. The Fellowship of the Ring was the first endeavor to involve all four races since, well, ever. It was Tolkien's imitators, and especially D&D, that shoved everyone together and nobody was particularly strange to anyone else.
 
Tolkien shaped four distinct races (orcs, too) from a melange of folklore that didn't draw such distinctions among the faerie-folk -- and they were all Hidden Folk, not just the short ones. Nothing decreed that he had to create dwarves, elves, hobbits and orcs as he did, or as gamers have subsequently adapted them. So I repeat: Go back to the source. It might be a useful exercise to reverse-engineer hobbits from the folklore: work out what Tolkien used, and what he was trying to achieve. Then you can probably rebuilt the Sma;ll Folk to suit yourself.
 
 
Or, you know, don't. If the only reason you're even trying to make halflings "work" for you is that people expect them 'cuz D&D, you probably shouldn't waste your time. You probably won't b e happy with the result; and if you aren't having fun runnin g the game, your players probably won't have fun either.
 
Dean Shomshak

And a bazillion legends from around the world about the small folk who are rarely seen. That's where Tolkien got his hobbits (with a fair bit of his own imagination). Return to the source and do as he did.
 
When I ran my Fantasy Europa alternate-history campaign I didn't get much opportunity to use my version of halflings -- or three versions, really, because I gave them three main cultural divisions. Regular "halflings" had assimilated into human society. Savants are sure they are simply a shorter version of humans. But it's also pretty well established that they are the first folk of Europe.
 
Halflings who didn't assimilate are generally called Picts, Pygmies, Pisgies, or other variations; or Brownies, Bwca, Boggarts, Huldre, Kobolds, or many other names. None of these are what they call themselves. They still live in hiding out in the countryside. Local folk sometimes make tacit bargains with them: The farmer who lets the Hidden Folk glean his fields after the harvest finds fewer foxes getting into the henhouse. Or the reverse can happen. The Hidden Folk have their own ancient religion and mythology, preserving many secrets su ch as from when the elves came, and the Wild Huntsman's true name.
 
But a few of the Hidden Folk strike back against the larger folk who occupy land they still regard as theirs. They are Goblins, the terror in the dark or under the bed, masters of dagger, dart and poison. Up the airy mountain/Down the rushy glen/We daren't go a-hunting/For fear of little men...
 
Like I said, it's an idea I never got the chance to develop much. Maybe I'll get a chance some other time.
 
Dean Shomshak

Heard on the BBC that scientists have used lasers to trigger and draw lightning strikes. The reporter from Nature spoke of it as a sort of improved lightning rod to protect especially vulnerable facilities, such as rocket launch sites. No mention of stealing the weapon of the gods from their own hands, but still: lasers, to control lightning. Someone, somewhere, is going "Muah ha ha ha!"
 
I can't seem to find a BBC site for the report, but found this story directly from Nature itself.
 
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00080-7
 
Dean Shomshak

Heard on the BBC that scientists have used lasers to trigger and draw lightning strikes. The reporter from Nature spoke of it as a sort of improved lightning rod to protect especially vulnerable facilities, such as rocket launch sites. No mention of stealing the weapon of the gods from their own hands, but still: lasers, to control lightning. Someone, somewhere, is going "Muah ha ha ha!"
 
I can't seem to find a BBC site for the report, but found this story directly from Nature itself.
 
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00080-7
 
Dean Shomshak

Big Jack Brass beat me to it! But here's a link to the issue and article, if anyone cares.
 
https://archive.org/details/DragonMagazine260_201801/DragonMagazine100/page/n75/mode/2up
 
The other article was in issue 117:
https://archive.org/details/DragonMagazine260_201801/DragonMagazine117/page/n53/mode/2up
 
DRAGON also published the "One in a Million" article by Roger E. Moore, about superbeing populations worldwide, which has guided my setting design ever since. A useful reminder to American Champions GMs about how many people *do not live in the USA.* But they can have heroes and villains too!
 
Dean Shomshak

Big Jack Brass beat me to it! But here's a link to the issue and article, if anyone cares.
 
https://archive.org/details/DragonMagazine260_201801/DragonMagazine100/page/n75/mode/2up
 
The other article was in issue 117:
https://archive.org/details/DragonMagazine260_201801/DragonMagazine117/page/n53/mode/2up
 
DRAGON also published the "One in a Million" article by Roger E. Moore, about superbeing populations worldwide, which has guided my setting design ever since. A useful reminder to American Champions GMs about how many people *do not live in the USA.* But they can have heroes and villains too!
 
Dean Shomshak

I suddenly noticed as well which is why I posted a new member, so thanks for finishing the team. 
 
It is bad enough when one team of supervillains turns up. Now imagine the chaos when not one, not two but three turn up. This was the work of The Futurists who managed to get The Ultimates, Eurostar and The Brain Trust to attack the Meldrum laboratory complex. This led (apparently) to a giant radioactive black hole that destroyed the area and had a chain reaction that resulted in world wide cataclysms. 
Captain Chronos managed to retrieve Stella Crane known as Dusk who was trying to stop the villains and prevent damage to the plant which caused the destruction. Her knowledge of computer programming and security systems enabled her to create simulations of what happened. All runs have convinced her that all of these groups must be prevented from going near the complex or anywhere else where similar work is done. Consequently she has been trying to throw spanners into the works of all these groups. But she is worried that someone else might have worked on any of these groups. Dr Destroyer ? Menton ? The Crowns of Krim ? She does not know but it will keep her busy.

Mongoose
 
Captain Chronos pulled the hero formerly known as Iron Tiger from a world devastated by VIPER. The organization had released a virus that caused monstrous serpent mutations in those it infected. The virus was more powerful and unpredictable than even VIPER realized and quickly spread out of control. Arriving in this reality the martial arts master changed his identity to Mongoose to reflect his battle against VIPER. He now tries to dismantle the vile snakes before they can develop the dangerous poison and doom the world. His time is running out however as he has been infected by the virus himself and it only his iron will and training in spiritual techniques that stave off it's affects for now.

For a few days now, I'd thought of posting a new team concept since it had been so long since anyone posted, but was too busy with other things. I won't object if anyone has additional members for Second Chance, but I'd ;like to propose the next team. It's the same concept as the PCs in my current campaign, but I'd like to see what other people could make of it in the Champions Universe.
 
In the Superheroic Age, the future faces deadly peril. Forget the official CU timeline with the Alien Wars, Terran Empire, and all that. That's only one possibility. Many of the possibilities are dreadful. Several current supervillains have the potential to end the human race and the world... or inflict horrors without end.
 
Even in those doomed futures, there are heroes -- likewise doomed, because it's too late. But what if someone could go back in time to make sure that future never happened? Enter Captain Chronos! He has rescued six doomed heroes and brought them back to the early 21st century to defeat the villains before they can destroy the world. They are the Avant Guard.
 
Pick the villain who dooms the world. The likes of Doctor Destroyer, Takofanes or Mechanon are easy choices, but hey, if you can think of a way to make Bulldozer a Destroyer of Worlds, great! Give a brief description of the dark future, and then that last hero who's going down fighting before Captain Chronos finds him, her, or it.
 
Dean Shpomshak

I think CLOWN was a fundamentally bad idea. One prankster villain, okay, it's a classic type. A whole team? With enough points lavished on them to make them quite likely to win confrontations, at least in the old 250-character point days? No, I don't think so.
 
My old Seattle Sentinels had a few prankster villains, but I used them sparingly. (They also picked on other villains, which allowed the players a little schadenfreude.)  The Fellowship of Fear was a whole team designed as comic relief, but part of the joke was that they took themselves utterly seriously and did not realize how ridiculous and inept they were. UNICoRN, a fill-in campaign of low-power heroes, was often farcical with villains such as Commander Coleoptera (and his Arthrozoid Army) in the adventure, "They Cloned Quisling's Brain!" but everybody knew that going in. And the Keystone Konjurors campaigns were meant to be serious; the slapstick was the fault of the players making characters with Activation Rolls and big Side Effects.
 
Anyway, when people are done with other discussions I'll move on to the next stage of the analysis. But don't feel pressured; I'm enjoying this, too.
 
Dean Shomshak

But what's a super-team without a brick? Several superheroes have fought super-strong, nigh-invulnerable women of diverse appearance, costumes, and pseudonyms. These battles have caused lots, I mean lots of property damage. Factories and businesses have had to shut down because they didn't have insurance against super-battles. Sometimes the female villain got away, though ususally without whatever she came to steal; sometimes she was captured, but another villain teleported her out of jail. (Thank you Bail, here's your tip.)
 
Heroes have not yet realized that all these super-strong female villains are the same woman, variously disguised; nor that the crimes she committed, or tried to commit, were blinds and often the real goal was the property damage. One way Force Majeure can destroy a client's rival is to stage a super-battle. Even sneakier, the group can benefit  a client by staging a super-battle on property that is insured -- whether to destroy evidence of other misdeeds, or just to collect the insurance money.
 
The woman's real code name within Force Majeure? Indemnity.
 
(PS: Another way to profit from super-battles? Short-selling. The process is a little too involved to go into here, but suffice to say there's a way to turn a profit on a stock whose value drops. Unexpected and massive property damage can send the value of a company's stock tumbling. Somebody who knows it was going to happen can make a killing. Force Majeure uses shell companies to profit in this way from companies it attacks, whether from Indemnity's battles, scandals rigged by Corpus Delicti, thefts by De Minimis, other damage by Burakku Kigyo, or just rumors spread by the Litigant. They make at least as much money this way as they get from their clients, and it may indeed be their true "business model.")
 
Dean Shomshak
Oh, is that six? I don't have another team theme at the moment but I know Bolo does, so I pass in favor of him. Take it away, Bolo!
 
Dean Shomshak

Corpus Delicti, or "C. D." for short, is an actual ghost. The team's support staff tell a story that in life he was the crookedest of crooked Mob lawyers. Heaven wouldn't take him, for obvious reasons, and the Devil was scared to let him into Hell. While C. D.'s's ability to go anywhere invisibly and intangibly has great use, his particular specialty is possessing and animating corpses -- the only way he can affect anything solid. One of his favorite ways of tying up an enemy of a client is to animate someone recently dead (if necessary, other members of Force Majeure kill someone), walk the dead person into the target's home or business, then vacate the body to leave an inconvenient corpse for the target to explain. For extra artistry he might shoot his host body with the target's gun, or leave the nude corpse of a strangled person in the target's bed. Then let police and prosecutors do their work. Even if a murder case won't stick, the target will be kept too busy to oppose Force Majeure's client.
 
If Corpus Delicti needs to pose as a living person (and the team can obtain a fresh enough cadaver for this), he sometimes uses the pseudonymous surname of "Mortmain."
 
Dean Shomshak

Wow, if that list only goes through 2015 it's hard to believe any concept hasn't been done already, but I'll try.
 
Force Majeure is a team of mercenary villains that evil tycoons and corporations hire as criminal fixers and arrangers. Member names all refer to legal terms, though members don't need to have backgrounds as lawyers. (Might be good if the team leader did, though.) Six members sounds about right. All origin types allowed.
 
Dean Shomshak

Oh, hey, I was just revising the character sheets of a villainous couple who'd fit the Sweethearts. Might as well share 'em...
 
David and Marsha Stubbs lived in Hanford, Washington State. David worked at the Hanford nuclear facility, making medical drugs and radioisotopes. TGhe pay was good by most standards, but a person of his genius deserved more. He stole drugs and isotopes to sell on the black market. Only his wife Marsha, who taught science at a local high school, was smart enough to really understand him; and David was the only man Marsha ever met with the brains to appreciate her without being jealous of her intelligence.
 
Then David slipped up. He knew the Feds would come for him soon. He packed his stash of radioactives (quite a lot, his contact hadn't shown up for a few months) while Marsha packed everything else they thought valuable, preparing to go on the lam. In his haste, perhaps David fumbled a vial...
 
BOOM! Marsha ran into the fog of radioactive chemicals to rescue David. He was gravely wounded; she had no choice but to call 911. The Feds came with the EMTs. David was decontaminated, more or less, and taken to the hospital under armed guard. When the Feds tried to arrest Marsha and take her from David, though, she began glowing. Bullets bounced off her aura; she shot back with blasts of nuclear radiation.
 
Marsha, now the villain Reactor, returned a month later to rescue David. He was a paraplegic, and never recovered from radiation poisoning, but they still loved each other. David found that being crippled concentrated his mind wonderfully, though. For a few years, he built increasingly advanced gadgets (often radiological or chemical) to help his wife. Then he built his flying, plasma-propelled hoverchair and revealed that he also gained super=powers from the accident. He gaine atomic psychokinesis, the power to manipulate matter at the atomic and subatomic scale, from setting things on fire to outright disintegration. The circuits in the chair enabled him to perform multiple feats at once, including generating a powerful force field to make up for his physical fragility. Since then he has used the name Exciton and together they became The Covalent Bond.
 
I'm not sure how these couples (and polycule) met, but Covalent Bond has an arrogant, us-against-the-world sense of grievance that would make them easy recruits.
 
Dean Shomshak