Iuz the Evil

Re: Character for Review - Avatar

Here's a character I'm looking at submitting for a PBEM, and given that the point levels are so incalculably higher than I'm used to (650 vs. my usual 350) I was hoping people would give him the critical once over. Take a long hard look and feel free to rip him apart. I can take it, gimme your best shot! I would love to hear feedback on point balancing, power costs, etc. Note that I may tinker with the background a bit more, I am definitely not satisfied with that yet, but I didn't want to leave it out either. I'd also like to thank Enforcer for his "hero a day" thread. Was extremely helpful as a source of inspiration (read: power examples and formatting, plus blatant source material). So without further ado, here he is... my flying uber-brick. Avatar. Avatar (Lars Kreiger) 80* Str. 10 CHA Cost = 112 30* Dex. 0 Power Cost = 538 40* Con. 0 Total Cost = 650 20 Body 20 18 Int. 8 Phases: 2,4,6,7,9,11,12 18 Ego 16 OCV: 10 25 Pre. 15 DCV: 10 20 Com. 5 ECV: 6 30 PD 14 30 ED 23 7* Spd. 1 24 Rec. 0 80 End. 0 80 Stun 0 Pts. Power 10 I’m Not Impressed!: +15 PRE (only to defend against PRE attacks -1/2) 20 Doesn’t Tire Easily: 1/2 END Cost, STR. 30 Elemental Control – Superhuman Physiology 30 (E/C) Phenomenal Strength: +60 STR. 30 (E/C) Incredible Reflexes: +30 DEX. 30 (E/C) Incredible Reflexes (II): +6 SPD. 30 (E/C) Amazing Resilience: +30 CON. 15 Elemental Control – Invulnerability 22 (E/C) Nigh Invulnerable: Damage Resistance (30 PD/30 ED), Hardened (+1/4) (37 Active Points) 15 (E/C) Even More Invulnerable Than That!: 50% resistant physical damage reduction 15 (E/C) Even More Invulnerable Than That! (II): 50% resistant energy damage reduction 28 (E/C) Impervious to Environments: LS (Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents; Immunity: All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents; Longevity: 1600 Years; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/ Vacuum; Self-Contained Breathing) 15 (E/C) Boundless Reserves: 30 points Power Defense 15 (E/C) Will of Iron: 30 points Mental Defense 15 (E/C) Recovers Rapidly From Damage: Healing 3d6, Can Heal Limbs, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), -1 1/4), Self Only (-1/2) [Notes: No Healing Max (see FRED p. 120)] 10 Utterly Without Flaws: -10 Lack of Weakness 75 Brick Tricks: Multipower, 75-point reserve 7u 1) All Tied Up with Nowhere to Go!: Entangle 7d6, 7 DEF (70 Active Points); Defense Depends On Material Used (-1/2), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), No Range (-1/2), OIF (appropriate material of opportunity) (-1/2), Cannot Form Barriers (-1/4) 7u 2) Crunch!: Dispel Technological Objects 20d6, One At A Time (+1/4) (75 Active Points); No Range (-1/2) 3u 3) Shockwave clap: Explosion on up to 75 STR, Hole In The Middle (75 Active Points); Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Restrainable (-1/2) 2u 4) Unrestrainable Might: +60 STR (60 Active Points); Only to determine Casual Strength (-1 1/2), No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) 3u 5) Super-Strength Smash-Through: Tunneling 1" through 18 DEF material (56 Active Points); 2x END Cost (-1/2), No Noncombat Movement (-1/4) 2u 6) Barrier Penetration: Indirect (attack always originates up to the character's reach in front of him; +1/4) for up to 80 Active Points of STR (20 Active Points) 4u 7) Tear You Limb From Limb: HKA 2 1/2d6 (5d6 w/STR) (40 Active Points) 2u 8) Stronger than A Locomotive: +75 STR (75 Active Points); Only To Stop Moving Objects (-2), No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) 4u 9) Distance Punch: Double Knockback (+3/4) for up to 80 Active Points of STR (60 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2) 2u 10) Stratospheric Throw: MegaScale (1" = 10 km; +1/2) for up to 80 Active Points of STR (40 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2); Only to Determine Distance Throwing An Object (-1/2) 40 Hyper-Movement : Multipower, 40-point reserve, (40 Active Points) 4u 2) Overdrive Flight: Flight 15", Megascale (1" = 1 km; +1/4) (37 Active Points) 4u 3) Defies Gravity!: Flight 20", Improved Noncombat Movement (x2) (40 Active Points) 4 Swift Sight: Sight Group, Megascale (1" = 1 km; +1/4) (6 Active Points); Only To See Path Ahead While Moving With Mega-Scale (-1/2) Pts. Skills 16 +2 levels with all combat 10 +2 levels with hand to hand combat 3 Conversation 3 Deduction 3 Linguist (German is native) 2 Language: English (idiomatic) (4 Active Points) 1 Language: French (completely fluent) (3 Active Points) 1 Language: Spanish (completely fluent) (3 Active Points) 1 Language: Russian (completely fluent) (3 Active Points) 2 Navigation (Air) 3 Oratory Disadvantages: Pts. Social Limitation: Public Identity (frequently, major) 15 Overconfidence (common, strong) 15 No Code vs. Killing (common) 10 Fearless (common, strong) 15 Protective of Earth and All It’s Inhabitants (common, strong) 15 Honorable – his word is his bond, won’t betray (common, strong) 15 Distinctive Features (aura of incredible power, Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 15 Distinctive Features (massive, incredibly handsome, noticed, concealable; detectable by commonly-used senses) 10 Watched by German Government, 14/less 15 Watched by Secret Government Cabal, 11/less 10 Reputation, incredibly strong and invulnerable, frequently 11/less, (major, widely known) 15 Height: 1.97 m Hair: Blond Weight: 130.00 kg Eyes: Blue Appearance: Avatar wears a red and white bodysuit with half-mask. He is powerfully muscled, incredibly handsome, and virtually radiates palpable might. He moves with lithe grace and incredible self-assuredness, having almost never experienced pain of any kind in the last decade or so of life. Personality: Protect the Earth, promote justice, find his place in the world. In that order. Quote:"Ãœbergabe oder, stirbt Ihre Wahl" (“Surrender or die, your choiceâ€) Background: Lars Krieger, born in Brandenburg two weeks after the “seedingâ€, has been aware of his powers (and difference from the rest of humanity) from his earliest memories. He was raised by his parents in Berlin and had a fairly positive and nurturing childhood. His mother, a linguist assigned with the United Nations diplomatic corps, was often away on business, but took him with her on several extended trips, and made significant efforts to be an active part of Lars’ childhood. His father was an elementary school administrator, and considerably more avaliable to his precocious son. As they had suspected, Lars’ gifts were difficult to conceal, and ultimately resulted in his abandoning the idea of a “secret identity†entirely in recent months. By latency age, his ability to fly and incredible speed and strength were developing rapidly, exceeding the wildest expectations of his adolescent fantasies. Lars’ mother was killed during an auto accident while traveling abroad just after his sixteenth birthday by a drunk driver, and he spent several days isolated in his room pondering the meaninglessness of her loss. His father eventually motivated him to leave, and they engaged in disussion deep into the night about what this meant for them, their family, and the future. He continues to do his best to live by the example set by his father, to make a difference in the world, and holding his word to be his bond (“Ein Wort eines Mannes ist sein Bandâ€). Lars spent the next several years practicing in secret to perfect his control over his powers and conceal his gifts. He was ready to commence his “superheroics†when a gas main exploded near the Alexanderplatz. While in the process of saving several dozen people from the fiery conflagration, Lars’ image was recorded by television cameras. Quickly his identity was discerned, and he found himself the center of a media circus. For the last two months, Avatar has been actively working to use his gifts for the betterment of the world around him. He conceptualizes himself as a “Defender of the Earthâ€, and does his best to hold himself apart from the conflicts of nation-states (though he has acted on behalf of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland on several occasions when requested to do so). More and more however, he finds it difficult to relate to the people he protects. He’s stopped using his given name for the most part, calling himself Avatar (based on a headline which referred to him as an “Avatar der Macht†– or Avatar of Power). Aside from the occasional hedonistic indulgence, he actually requires very little… certainly not food, rest, or shelter. His ability to meaningfully relate to the world which he protects is something which Avatar has begun to seriously question in recent weeks. Powers/Tactics: Avatar generally follows the maxim of “meet force with overwhelming forceâ€. He has a variety of methods for applying almost inconcievable physical might, which he does not hesitate to do with little regard for the consequences to his designated target. His initial reluctance to kill has completely evaporated after several high casualty conflicts with armed opponents, and he now uses lethal force virtually without thought in response to aggression. Avatar does concern himself with the risk to innocents however, perhaps a holdover from the loss of his mother. If possible, he’ll steer conflict away from populated areas, fragile structures, and civilians. His virtual invulnerability has resulted in overconfidence, as he has begun to believe himself incapable of being hurt. This is not factually true, and experiencing the results of this lack of caution may result in greater tactical savvy in the future.

Re: Sacramento Area Campaign - VINDICATOR 3/6/05: Cut to the Chase, Organazitsaya Big Cheese I decided that I was getting tired knocking around the Russian Mafioso, so I dropped by the residence of the man who I had determined was the major mover and shaker in the Central Valley. Snuck into the house without being spotted by the hard guys lurking around, and was waiting in his unlit bedroom when he came strolling in with his wife. I told him to send her away, as we had business to discuss, and his eyes got appreciably large before narrowing shrewdly. She went, he stayed, and we had a nice chat about how much I was going to cost him and his overbosses in Moscow. I mentioned that I had only scratched the surface of how much damage could be inflicted on the group, that I was not the police and “didn’t care about evidence or proceduresâ€, and that I wasn’t above tossing a couple of his expensive cars through the front of his house to make my point, or hospitalizing every goon-looking bruiser I even thought was associated with them. He started looking a little worried, but mostly just mad as hell. Tough fellow. When he asked what I wanted from him, he demonstrated that he was smart as well as brave. I told him, basically that I didn’t expect him to “go legit†but that certain criminal behavior was not going to be tolerated. No kiddie porn, immigrant slavery, drug traffic or victimization of innocents, no distribution of missiles to terrorists, no breaking the legs of local shopkeepers to make them turn over part of their take. I don’t care about tariff dodging, I don’t care about running illegal craps games or sports betting. I do care about hurting people who have done nothing and can’t protect themselves. He asked a couple of shrewd questions and we clarified that he didn’t have absolute control over his men, but also that I would hold him responsible for any egregious violations of these standards. Not thrilled that I can’t shut them down altogether, but realistically I am just one man (even if I’m a man who can fly and bounce military ordinance off my pecs), and I’ll live with containment at the moment. We also established that the fight between me and the Organizatsiya wasn’t over, but would be limited in scope as I have bigger fish to fry so long as they don’t cross the line I just drew in the sandy dirt of West Sacramento. I’m not calling it “Southportâ€, that’s ridiculous and pretentious. It’s still West Sac, I don’t care how much they gentrify it. So with that little chapter of my vigilante career largely out of the way, I am now going to move on to the “bigger fish†I mentioned. Heard that there was some activity by paranormals who might have something to do with the Program by the sounds of things, and THAT interests me a whole lot more than some gangster wannabes who I’ve largely defanged (at least for now).

Re: Sacramento Area Campaign - VINDICATOR 2/27/05: Gangbusting the Organizatsiya Well I spent the past two weeks staking out the “substantial older house†in central Sacramento. Lots of traffic in and out, packages dropped off and plenty of thugs hanging about. Followed plenty of cars back to various businesses and residences, and generally watched and waited. I’ve got eight locations which I have tagged as “primary targets†(weapons dealing, extortion rackets, etc.), and six more “secondary targets†(tariff avoidance, money laundering, etc.). Now it’s time to make my displeasure more fully apparent to these folks. I went over to a warehouse in Roseville, basically a bunch of AK-47s, Light Anti-Tank Weapons, grenades, and other ordinance. The goons there were no match for me, they did enthusiastically flatten a bunch of ammunition against me though. One of them busted out the merchandise (clever boy), and tagged me with a rocket. That stung a bit, but it was pretty demoralizing for them when I shook it off and flattened the smart guy with a right hook. I ran them off, made sure there was nobody inside, and blew the place with a half dozen grenades before setting a fire. Before leaving, I made sure to mention to one who spoke english to pass along a message for me that, “I’m not going to tolerate this type of activity around here anymore†to his superiors. He didn’t seem happy but was pretty civil about it. I then proceeded to trash my way through three more “primary target†areas the same night. Not sure the total cost to the Organizatsiya, but I’d guess a couple million dollars. I know for a fact there must’ve been three hundred thousand in cash which I dumped out over a three mile area of downtown Sacramento after a visit to their local extortionists. Somebody is gonna be pissed.

Re: Sacramento Area Campaign - VINDICATOR 2/12/05: The Organizatsiya and Gem Smuggling The Russian Mafia has gotten quite involved in various illicit activities in the West Sacramento and Harbor regions of the city, and recent news stories alerted me to their traffic in stolen gems through local jewelers. I followed a “mule†from one such cover operation, tracking him to the harbor drop and waiting patiently while he made the exchange. Then I followed the individual who recieved the gemstones to a trawler of Russian registry where he handed them to a sizeable number of Organizatsiya goons. Having learned from some of my recent engagements, I did not act at once, but continued to follow him after the drop to a very substantial house in the older neighborhoods of central Sacramento. He made another exchange, turning in a small card recieved at the ship to a woman who came out of the building before departing. I waited a bit, but nothing else of interest was happening at the house, so I returned to the dock expecting some action against the Russians. I was not dissapointed. There were eight armed Organizatsiya enforcers on the ship, three on the gangplank, and five more on the dock. All were armed with sub-machineguns when I initially engaged them, and they flattened light ammo against me like they bought it wholesale. Noticing the lack of effectiveness, two of them ran to their vehicle on the dock and got out a couple AK-74 assault rifles. I caught a round in the face from a lucky hit, and it stung enough that I may have hit the guy a bit hard. He’ll live with decent medical care though. After I established the guns weren’t going to help them, and gave about half their number some minor broken bones and light bleeding, the Russians gave up. I gathered them up, called the Coast Guard on the ship-to-shore radio, and stuck around until the feds showed up. There was a couple of million dollars worth of diamonds in that safe I broke open, and I’m guessing the local mob boss is going to be seriously pissed off. The feds asked me to come with them, but I let them know “I don’t take requests†before flying off. At least they were smart enough not to waste ammo on me. Tomorrow I’m going to stake out that manor house in central Sacramento, my guess is there are more activities these guys are up to in my city that I won’t approve of. I also figure they won’t appreciate how I express my displeasure.

Re: Ten Best Superhero Martial Arts Damn... You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to OddHat again. You're hilarious man, I consistently enjoy reading your posts. Not that what you stated isn't 100% accurate, it's just the delivery is such a fine example of witty humor it often makes me laugh out loud.

Re: Ten Best Superhero Martial Arts Shorinjii Kempo should be on that list. Looks sweet, and frickin' brutal... as... hell. I agree with the majority of the ones listed, but there does seem to be a little bit of overlap on styles. Still, if you had black belts (or equivalent) in ten different styles of martial art, I don't see a lot of people arguing the point. Yeah, that'd be a pretty convincing position to take... "Well, I think Capoeria will provide for greater acrobatic stylings and..." Heh heh heh...

Re: What's the most ridiculous PC you've ever been subjected to? Hmmm... worst character concept ever would be (I'm not kidding here)... FLAMER! With his penetrating, indirect (always from behind) killing attack. And horrifyingly predictable psych lims. I told him there was no damn way. Ever. And he should be ashamed of himself.

Re: Does your supervillain need a base?

Re: Does your supervillain need a base? Done, I'll take five. You deliver to Dorakaa?

Re: Does your supervillain need a base?

Re: [Newbie] Is desolidification truly unbalancing ? Desolid by itself isn't so bad... it's when you stack it with other powers like Invisibility, or the single attack which impacts it is so obscure as to be useless ("my desolid is only affected by this one specific wavelength of electro-magnetic energy, so only radio based attacks can harm me"). And as many folks have said, affects real world based attacks can make the power seem broken pretty damn fast. Of course the simple answer to the obscure attack form would be to arm all the hired goons with, for example, "obscure-radio-frequency blasters". But that's getting kind of silly... and I'd just veto the power myself (unless the player absolutely had to be taught the lesson for some reason and I was willing to waste all the other players' time to do so). I guess as always it's the careful examination by the GM that makes all the difference.

Re: What was you most powerful Attack vs. Supervillian??? Is the 7,951 BODY insufficient to core the mountain like an apple?

Re: What was you most powerful Attack vs. Supervillian??? If he was doing a "move through" on the mountain wouldn't he only take half? Surely he could shrug off the mere 13914 Stun and 3,975 Body! Might have difficulty finding a spot to land though given the terrain damage...

Re: Using real world contriversy in Champions games Oh yeah, we do this all the time. The campaign I'm currently in is headed down a pretty dark road, with the United States government basically suborned through financial maneuvering and widespread voter fraud. A group of individuals (referred to alternatingly as the "Oligarchs" or "Neocons") sponsor ruthless federal paranormal operatives who round up political dissidents, economic rivals, and others either executing them out of hand or incarcerating them in federal detention centers as "enemy combatants". It's dark, but a good time is being had by all. Of course, if Champsguy/Mentor/Thrak were in the campaign they'd doubtless object to one of a billion different implications or outright statements. However, we all share similar ideology and this is quite cathartic. After all, from our perspective things are pretty dark right now anyway, we just made it a bit worse for game purposes.

Re: A Modern League of Extroardinary Gentlemen Ok we've gone for eleven pages here, but there's one character that I'd love to see in a modern LXG. "You know what Jack Burton says at a time like this?" Oh yeah, him or Egg Chin. Or both!

Re: "So, Thor hits Superman with Mjolnir..." Fair enough... so who won when Superman and Thor threw down in the comics? Hmmm? I'm sure there are plenty of Yankees fans out there who feel their team "should have" won last year. Heck I was sorely disappointed by the performance of "my team" this year (to continue my sports analogy). As I'm fond of saying however, "wish in one hand & crap in the other... see which fills up first".

Re: "So, Thor hits Superman with Mjolnir..." Hmmm.... nope, I'm gonna go with the photographic evidence. "SMACK... OWNED". "Nice hammer, think I'll keep it". Plus I saw how Thor fared in the Marvel-DC crossover, in the JLA-Avengers crossover, and am thinking that I can't recall a case where he actually beat the Man of Steel. Anyone?

Re: "So, Thor hits Superman with Mjolnir..." I'm thinking it would go something like...

Re: Name My Supervillian! "Shut your mouth" "Just talkin' bout Herr Doktor Froo-Froo LeBouche Der Pantyfuerer"

Re: IHA Help "Homeland Security Defense Force"? "Patriot Protection Squad"? "Extra Strength Right Guard"? Oh wait... that's something different.

Re: [4color] Why do you dislike the Iron Age style? (No flames, ok?) Extremely well put. I like the Authority, that puts me at odds from the majority here apparently. My reasoning is as follows, I think of Ellis' work as the best depiction of the Authority. Sure what came later was pretty sorry in many respects, but the core of the series is established in those first issues. The (original) Authority was thought provoking, it was in my opinion brilliant stuff about social issues, comic book genres, and how easy it is for the powerful to ignore the meek. Do I think things raged out of control after Millar came on board? Of course! But there were some decent moments in that as well. I no longer read the series, as it has "turned me off", but for a while it was great stuff. Again, that's my opinion... I found it entertaining and thought provoking. Likewise, I enjoy numerous "Silver Age" comics (so many I just can't possibly take the time to list them all). For the reasons you put forth above. Life is complex, so is art. There's room for complexities and myriad opinions in both I think.

Re: Foriegn Captain America's Thank you, that's a great relief

Re: Romantic Villians Hmmm... I can see it. "Why pretty lady look at puny man like that? Grond not like puny man!! GROND SMASH PUNY MAN!!!!" Oh yeah, feel the love.

Re: Foriegn Captain America's This is a joke, right? It's the only way I can figure how what was stated makes any sense at all... that or the writer is completely unfamiliar with the region he maligns. Please tell me this is a joke.