Pattern Ghost

Re: Underwater Combat Mastery Yep, did the math on that one. About three to six times the speed of a normal shark, according to one website (which puts them at 26-50 mph). Being that speedy in water is bound to come in handy at least once in his career. The Climbing is an Alligator trait. Suckers can climb to places you'd be surprised to see. I'm from Florida, and every year, there'd be a few cases of gators up on someone's tool shed. I wanted him to be mainly a mix of Alligator and Shark to be able to operate on land and sea, rather than doing the typical "Man from Atlantis" shtick of drying out on land. I put the smörgåsbords (<-- that's the spelling my spellchecker for Firefox gave me ) of DNA into his background to allow for future developments, but I think you're right; I'll keep it all aquatic-themed anyway. Really, the only physical trait I see him developing outside of maybe adding a few points to what he already has, is the squid ink. That's one idea from the thread I really, really like but couldn't afford. I'm going to have him complain a bit about a sore/irritated throat, until he gets the XP to afford some ink glands. I decided to move them up to his neck rather than the other option.

Re: Underwater Combat Mastery Don't have it. The only 5th Edition stuff I have is the core book and Champions genre book. Low RPG budget around here.

Re: Cougar II, Revised for PBEM Nice! Here's my own character for the same game: Chimera.

I'm using Fifth Edition (not revised). On the sidebar on page 64, there are examples for Environmental Movement. Aquatic Movement reads "No penalties while in water: 3 Character Points" On page 250, the stated penalties for fighting in water (submerged) are -2 DCV and -2 DCs. I was figuring that you'd need 4 pts in Environmental Movement to get the 4 PSLs to offset the penalties completely. Or am I missing something? Thanks!

Re: [Character] Nemesis If you buy Hardened on the Damage Resistance, don't you also have to buy it on the base PD and ED?

Re: Underwater Combat Mastery Sweet, more great ideas. =) I expect him to be mostly a fish out of water at start, and he's kind of new at being a fish when he is in the water, but I'm going to work some of these in as he gets experience.

Re: Underwater Combat Mastery OK, here's what I came up with. Since I only had 20 pts to spend, and had forgotten to transfer his AKs into the document, I didn't get everything in there, but I'll likely use some of these suggestions as he gains experience. (Note: He's built on 300+50 instead of 200+150) CHIMERA 40 STR 30 21 DEX 33 40 CON 60 20 BODY 20 13 INT 03 11 EGO 02 20 PRE 10 08 COM -02 20 PD 12 20 ED 12 5 SPD 19 20 REC 08 60 END -10 60 STUN 00 CHAR Total: 198 POWERS/SKILLS/TALENTS 19 Martial Arts (Remnants) OCV DCV Damage/Effect Fast Strike +2 +0 10d6 Strike Legsweep +2 -1 9d6 Strike; Target Falls Martial Disarm -1 +1 Disarm, 50 STR to roll Martial Grab -1 -1 Grab 2 Limbs, 50 STR to Hold Offensive Strike -2 +1 12d6 Strike 3 Shark Skin: Damage Resistance to 3PD/3ED 7 Alligator Plating: Armor +5PD/+5ED, Act. 11- (-1) 11 Starfish Regeneration: Regeneration 1BODY/Turn, Regrow Limbs 8 Atavistic Mind: Mental Defense +8 (MD: 10) 5 Third Eyelid: +5 Flash Defense to Sight 15 Shark’s Nose: Tracking and Targeting Scent 2 Shark’s Nose: +2 to Scent PER rolls (14-) 8 Deep Sea Adaptations: LS: Breath Water, High Pressure, Extreme Cold 23 Shark’s Speed: +18” Swimming, x4 Non-combat Multiple (20”/80”) 12 Gator’s Rush: +6” Running (12”/24”) 3 At Home in the Water: Environmental Movement, Water Natural Born Hunter Skills: 3 Breakfall 13- 3 Climbing 13- 3 Stealth 13- 5 Shadowing 13- 4 Survival (Marine)13- 2 AK: Local Waterways 11- 2 AK: Local Sewers 11- 10 +2 Levels with Hand to Hand Combat 4 +2 OVC with Martial Grab Total Powers/Skills/Talents: 152 DISADVANTAGES 20 Hunted by Viper 8- (Capture/Enslave, MoPow, NCI) 10 Distinctive Features: Monstrous Appearance (Easily Concealed, Major Reaction) 20 Vulnerable, x2 Stun from Fire/Heat Attacks Total Disadvantages: 50 + 300 Base Pts = 350 Background/History: Kyle Sandsmark was a martial arts instructor and Army veteran who trained law enforcement, military, and private security agencies in hand to hand combat skills. The last job he ever took was for Diamondback Security, a Viper front company. After assessing his suitability as a test subject, Viper abducted Kyle and subjected him to their latest gene splicing experiments, bonding his DNA with shark, alligator, starfish, ape, tiger, and several other animals’ DNA. The result was a chimera. Kyle was kept in an underwater facility for his transformation and subsequent experimentation. As part of the program, Viper intended to wipe his mind and instill a new, malleable personality, to turn him into a killing machine. It was during the latter part of the mind wiping process that an earthquake struck, damaging the base. Kyle managed to break free, and to fight his way out of the facility. Cries of “Chimera has escaped!” echoed in his ears as he made his way to freedom. Lacking memories, and an identity, he took the name he was given. Personality/Motivation: Kyle was a veteran who had seen too much conflict in his life. He found peace in martial arts, and a center of calm and control that countered the chaos of war. At heart, he was a peaceful man. This core personality was not broken during Viper’s mind wiping attempts, and is currently almost all that is left of the man Chimera was. Chimera seeks answers. He wants to regain that which was taken from him. At the same time, he doesn’t deny the nature of what he has become. He wants his memories back, but he hasn’t decided if he wants to reverse the changes that were done to his body. He thrills in the hunt, and in the freedom that his aquatic lifestlye affords him, and in the peace of the depths. While he will fight if forced to, he is essentially a humble person, whose body language conveys his gentle nature. (Thus his reaction is not bought as Extreme for his Distinctive Features, nor is his PRE offensive only.) He is also somewhat quiet. He knows his mind isn’t operating at its full capacity, so he usually remains quietly thoughtful, and speaks slowly and deliberately. Powers/Tactics: Chimera has retained a small portion of his martial arts training, though by no means all of it. His tactics are very rarely defensive in nature, so he lacks the defensive maneuvers he had in his prior life. The only time he goes on the defensive is against fire or heat users, as the sudden temperature change shocks his system. When in the water, he fights much as his primary animal aspects, the shark and the alligator, do: he Grabs his opponent and drags them down as deeply as possible. (He also brings them back up when they’re waterlogged and out of fight, rather than let them drown.) The rest of Chimera’s powers are pretty self-explanatory, and based largely on his shark and alligator genes. His extraordinary strength is a result of several bio-mechanical and muscular advantages enhanced from great ape and large cat genes. His skills are those of a predator, and until he regains his memories, he does not have access to Kyle’s full military or martial arts skills. Appearance: Chimera is a 7’ tall, 400 lb. shark-alligator-man. Nuff said. (Attached are pics of him in his normal non-outfit and one in his patented TMNT disguise of overcoat and fedora.) Quote: "I'm more than the sum of my parts."

Re: Underwater Combat Mastery Aha! I thought that was in 5th somewhere, but couldn't find it! Just the shark nose. Will add targeting to scent though. Tempting, but... I do not want to know where he squirts his ink from. I like this one. The old grab and dive. Also tempting, but he doesn't really have a bite attack. His human-ish shaped mouth is only good for catching small stuff like fish.

I'm working on a character who's a chimera: a mix of DNA from a human, shark, alligator, and some other aquatic life forms. I have 20 points left to flavor him up as a master of underwater combat. But I can't think of anything other than the lame "stronger in water" shtick that doesn't really fit his conception, and a couple of PSLs to offset the fighting in water penalties. Anybody have some ideas how to spice up Chimera's character sheet?

Re: PBEM game: Viper based Cool. I dropped her a line.

Re: Concepts brought to life by 350 points Hmm... Good question. I found when going from Fourth to Fifth, that Fifth added a lot of options (such as combat rules and changes to some talents), or inflated costs (such as full LS going from 30-50 points), so that well-rounded characters didn't look too different, except for the higher point totals. Mostly, I use the extra points to round out a character, buy those extra CSLs or background skills that I couldn't afford on 250. At 250, a lot of concept are doable, but have to be pared back in power a bit. For those, I map out a predetermined path for CP spending so the character ends up as planned.

Re: Mind Slayer OK, just read Wiki entry on her. Looks like she traded her psychic knife in for a telekinetic katana. Hmm

Re: Mind Slayer

Re: Concepts Killed by 350 I have a hard time doing characters with a decent skill and power set, but also with their own significant vehicle and/or base. For example, a Blue Beetle build + the hovercraft vehicle and base. Or Batman type with cave, car, boat and plane.

Re: PBEM game: Viper based Did your friend happen to mention expected posting frequency?

Re: Air Ray and Aqua Ray If the Uncanny Valley had a mall, it'd probably carry these in the kite shop.

Re: Fantasy Art Thread What a great concept!

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Love the DnD stuff.

Re: Your FIRST Super Hero Character I'm thinking that my first character in the Champions MMO will be Blue Comet. I'll probably have to flesh him out a bit more, though. Been 33-34 years since I played him, after all.

Re: Name help - Magnetic armor-guy Magneto! Hmm.... I think that one may be taken. How about Heap? (as in scrap heap) or Pig Iron?

Re: Most interesting character ideas you've seen from others? You know, I've been trying to think of an example for this thread for several days now. I'm forced to admit I've played with some unimaginative gamers. Then again, you can have good times without breaking the mold too much, I guess.

Re: Character Design Theory Actually, that "Similar Threads" thing at the bottom of the page now seems to create a lot of necromancy. So, I blame it by default when I see a necrothread.

Re: Susano's Eight Steps To Character Building Ok, dumb question time... What's an APA?

Re: Susano's Eight Steps To Character Building As usual, very nice work! Incoming rep!

Re: EC's cannot have non-END powers!!!! Hmm, didn't Superworld or Villains and Vigilantes have a construct like that? I seem to remember a big chart listing the different element types, with powers for each. But I don't think it was Champs that I saw it in, since I didn't own Champs until 4th Edition (had bummed GMs books prior).