Comic

You raise important questions of intergenerational culture. To a degree, I agree. O tempora; O mores. What had been Oratory set down for others to read -- or in the case of Youtube or Vines to see and hear -- may have been simply Oratory before now. Certainly, those skilled at the one have a decided advantage in the other. But is this not just evidence of high PRE, applicable Interaction Skill Levels and Striking Appearance talent? Look at how this has played out in elections: candidates on all sides with equal Oratory have decidedly unequal result when one side has superior Social Media skills. The question for me isn't, "is there such a thing as a social media skill?" It's "is social media skill based on PRE?" It's not Computer Programming, clearly: we all know some with the one skill but not the other; further, we know of some with a clear upper hand in such skills connected to a characteristic who are absolutely lacking in the other. The same question applies to Graffiti, which comes with its own special knowledge and is a worldwide phenomenon. While rap might be a specialized form of Oratory, and Gangsta Rap of Streetwise, following all the rules of that skill, it's clear that Graffiti is a very different thing. The question isn't "is there such a thing as a graffiti skill?"; clearly there is. It's, "is Graffiti PRE-based?" Forms of the same question apply to Advertising as distinct from Acting or Trading; anyone familiar with Mad Men's Charmers and Traders might see how such a separate skill might be popular with supervillain organizations who care nothing for seduction nor for negotiating prices. Anyone familiar with the news likely sees reports about this skill used to recruit for real life terrorist groups. If you know WKRP in Cincinnati, you know Advertisers do not always have Charm. (Though Mad Men is more accurate in depicting the skills of Advertising, WKRP had a more accurate picture of the general practitioner of the art.) While Marketing might be an INT-based skill, and Merchandising likely is INT-based too, Advertising persuades a mass audience not individually targeted, and with means clearly outside the traditional definitions of Oratory. I'm not suggesting the core Interaction Skills in RAW aren't adequate in general, and couldn't be used in combinations to model similar skill outcomes; I'm suggesting that depending on the granularity you're after in character definition, expanding Interaction Skills to list such ideas is clean, clear, and when well-described, balanced. The idea of a Courtesy skill has for me the entertainment value of watching players who lack it in real life roleplay what they imagine it might be in their characters. That would be a fascinating social experiment. Propaganda is a field a lot of people think they know, but perhaps a GM who has Googled (a social media skill, or an intelligence skill?) "Techniques of Propaganda" will find there's a lot more to it than just shouty guys flaming away, whether on stage, in print or online. Advertising's covertly psychotic cousin propaganda has different goals and methods as a tool not of persuasion but manipulation and attack. I have in mind a flame-based supervillain with trollish regeneration with scads of points in Propaganda as being particularly troublesome in a long-running campaign, making real trouble for characters with social complications. Similarly, in previous cultures there may have been Interaction skills that are either meaningless now, or fold rightly into existing skills, as they have lost their cultural weight and import. Scalds telling the epic of Beowulf in a past time might have had Storytelling as a separate skill -- a means of obtaining lodging and food, pay and influence while communicating. C'mon. Admit it. You'd love so see some players try to roleplay Courtesy.. a lot more than you'd want to see them attempt Charm.

I'd like to suggest some alternate 3 pt. PRE-based Interaction Skills, inspired by my Gen-Z social media maven, Professor Pedantic. Please give them your consideration, and share your thoughts: 1. While the good Professor has Bureaucratics and Oratory, he's also online, and his Presence comes across in his Tweets and blog posts. Web Presence isn't just an expression. There's a real skill to it, and a characteristic quality to those who succeed. Of course, it only applies to the social media audience. But with it, a good maven can have the same effect as Oratory, Acting, Persuasion, Charm, or Streetwise in that world. 2. Not Professor Pedantic's bag, and representative of another generation, Graffiti Artist is a 3 pt. skill highly complementary to Streetwise, and from the same world. How to read tags and throw ups, how to get and give respect through street art, a bit like urban Tracking, this too is a skill of Presence, primarily, the High Society of the spray paint set. 3. Courtesy, an Old World skill not just of High Society, and prized even by the lowly -- as for those who have nothing but their dignity, their dignity is worth all the more. This PRE-based skill can bring a confrontation down from a conflict to a negotiation, and those with it can generally analyze better whether -- and perhaps why -- aggression cannot be avoided by reading their targets. 4. Propaganda, while often regarded as sleazy and lowbrow, has its practitioners, its knowledge, and its effectiveness whether spoken, in illustration or written. Sneaking propaganda into ordinary communications undetected as such is part of the skill. It's a bit like Trading, except it is the trading in fallacy and isms. 5. Journalism. Noble, courageous, just and true, the real journalist embraces ideals of finding information some want hidden, and telling it in the public interest, with clarity and balance. This PRE-based skill is a bit like Streetwise, Trading, Social Media, and the opposite of opportunistic Propaganda.

Cutting down a tree is cutting down a tree. A tree has PD and Body, and weight and there's space around it. All of those aspects of cutting down a tree are well within Hero rules. Now, a sword or a fist is a clumsy thing to cut down most trees (beyond saplings or bamboo, say), but it can happen. Turning the tree eventually into something actually useful requires at least a skill in that form of turning things into other things. Instantly turning the tree into something useful and complex, that'd be a super power, like Transform. Repeatedly using the useful thing the tree is turned into will cost points one way or another, eventually. Let's look at the example of using a tree without knocking it down. Suppose Professor Pedantic has leapt high into the stratosphere, passed out from the cold and the lack of air and pressure, expanded like a weather balloon and got carried to the depths of the Great Siberian Forest. The good professor could use trees there to hang out and rest while he recovers his strength and the blizzard passes so he can get his bearings, safe from ground-based mutant predators. He could use firewood gathered from the forest to try to warm himself against the bitter Siberian cold, if, say, he happened to have the requisite knowledge, on a one-time basis. But it would be slow-going without fire powers, Survival skill, Inventor, a small variable pool or the like. It would be a real challenge for the urban-raised Professor. If Professor Pedantic did survive, and repeated such experiences often, he'd definitely need to start putting points into Survival, some means to make fire, and if he made it his permanent locus of crime-fighting operations, possibly Base points. You don't need Transform, or PS: Lumberjack to do it. You need them to do it instantly or competently. Any superbeing can knock down and destroy.

I am always impressed by your character designs. They are works of art. I figured that if Extra Limbs could be a basis for SPD, and informed by Mr. Fantastic (and the advantages of Hero Designer clearly show in the link), Plastic Man, Ralph Dibny and Elastigirl examples, that Stretching could be even moreso. Plus, it's fun to try alternate takes on characters, shake up pre-conceptions, and see what comes out. In this case, I'm particularly pleased by my younger, less Cosmic, earlier-in-his-career alternate Mr. Not-Quite-Fantastic.. Which leads me to suspect I've made a math error along the way. This is a Speedster (a character type that's always been trouble for me in game) I think I could play, and have fun with.

And here's an entirely alternative view of the Speedster archetype. One who's a Speedster not because of velocity, but by virtue of reach and independent control of each part of his form: Characteristics – Strand – Professor Paul Lymer (aka Professor Pedantic by students) VAL CHA CP Base Price END Roll Notes 15 STR 5 10 1 [1] 12- Lift 200 kg; 3d6 HTH 13 DEX 6 10 2 12- 25 CON 15 10 1 14- 18 INT 8 10 1 13- PER Roll 12- 10 EGO 0 10 1 11- 15 PRE 5 10 1 12- PRE Attack: 3d6 10 OCV 35 3 5 8 DCV 25 3 5 3 OMCV 0 3 3 3 DMCV 0 3 3 8 SPD 60 2 10 Phases: 12, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 15 PD 13 2 1 30(15r) 10 ED 8 2 1 25(15r) 16 REC 12 4 1 25 END 1 20 1/5 10 BODY 0 10 1 * 28 STUN 4 20 1/2 Meters Movement 4 LEAP 0 4 1/2 [2] up to half upward; Megascale 4m=400km 12 RUN 0 12 1 [2] X2 Noncombat 4 SWIM 0 4 1/2 [1] X2 Noncombat 197 Characteristics & Movement Total* CP Powers Notes [END] Powers Graphene Biopolymer 5 Bare Advantage on 4m Leap 'Elastic Legs' Megascale (+1.75) 4m=400km 7 AP Increased Endurance x2 (-1/2) [2] 16 Damage Reduction 50% Physical 'Elastic Resilience' 20 AP Unified Power (-1/4) [-] 4 Enhanced Senses Telescopic Normal Sight +8 PER to Offset Range 'Elastic Eyes' 4 AP [-] 54 Multipower Pool 67 AP Reserve 'Elastic Versatility' Unified Power (-1/4) 5f STR +45 'Elastic Power' 45 AP 0 END (+1/2) 67 AP 4f Teleport 8m x16 Ncbt = 128m 'Elastic Fluidity' 28 AP Position Shift (5 AP) Safe Aquatic (5 AP) 38 AP [0] 0 END (+1/2) Safe Blind (+1/4) 67 AP Must Pass Through Intervening Space (-1/4) 45 Resistant Protection 'Graphene Polymer Durability' 15 rPD/15 rED [-] 39 Stretching 3m Malleable x64 = 256m Reach 'Elastic Stretch' 33 AP 0 END (+1/2) 49 AP Unified Power (-1/4) [0] 1 VPP 1 point 1 AP 'Two Bit Inventor'* [-] 1 Control Cost 6 points 3 AP All Slots Focus, Fragile, Obvious (-1) 'Two Bit Inventor'* [-] 174 Total Powers* Perks 0 Positive Reputation: Professor Risked Life to Save Students (Limited Group) 0 Total Perks Enhancers 3 Scientist 3 Total Enhancers Skills General Skills - AK: Campaign City Everyman 8- - KS: Academic World Everyman 11- - LS: English Native Everyman – Literate - PS: Professor Everyman 11- - TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles 0 Total General Skills Intellect Skills 3 Computer Programming (Masters in Software Engineering) 13- 3 Deduction (BA Philosophy of Logic) 13- 3 Inventor (B.Eng. Biomechanical) * 13- 3 Paramedic (Pre-med; trained Search and Rescue volunteer) 13- 3 SS: Biology, Chemistry, Physics (minor degrees in the major sciences) 11- 2 SS: Nanotechnology (PhD - almost posthumus) 13- 17 Total Intellect Skills Interaction Skills 3 Bureaucratics (BA Economics) 12- 3 Oratory (Public Speaking & University Debating Society - PSEUDS) 12- 3 Social Media (White Hat Maven) 12- 9 Total Interaction Skills 201 Total Powers, Perks, Enhancers & Skills 400 Total CP Complications 5 DNPC: Floating (as demands of campaign determine) 10 Distinctive Feature: Stretchy & Malleable (Easily Concealed, Major Reaction) 10 Hunted: Floating (As Powerful, NCI, PC Easy to Find, Watching Only, Infrequently) 5 Physical Limitation: Begins to swell & inflate at low pressures (Infrequent, Barely) 15 Psych Lim: Protective of Innocents 10 Psych Lim: Scientific Curiosity 5 Rivalry: Floating (as demands of campaign determine) 15 Social: Secret Identity, Professor Paul Lymer 75 Total Complications Background Grad student Paul Lymer gave his PhD defense of his project, "Space Elevator Graphene Biopolymer Nanochemistry, Macro Economics and Mesophysics" swathed head to foot in bandages, in a hospital bed. He was not expected to pull through after the horrific injuries he received when the nanotechnology lab session he was heading was broken into by a VIPER squad. Sacrificing himself to ensure his students' escape selflessly, Paul was blasted into some very advanced experimental graphene biopolymer equipment by some exotic rays from the VIPER guns. That his own DNA was the basis for that particular biopolymer experiment (it was handy when he ran out of lab supplies) may have saved his life. It certainly altered it. Powers Strand is a being of ultra resilient, malleable superpolymer composite meshed with a living human form. Not just able to stretch a quarter kilometer and bounce to the stratosphere in a single bound, Strand is able to harness the elasticity of his substance to store and release immense power at phenomenal speeds, and practically flow like a liquid from point to point within more than a hundred meters. His presence is like a living ricochet crossed with an elastic web the proportions of a city block. Tactics Strand's first priority is protection of innocents. Other innocents first, then himself -- he thinks he's innocent -- by getting them out of range of danger. There's no equity in his view toward sources of danger, no code of honor: Strand is quite comfortable swatting villains like flies from far out of their reach, if he can, by surprise, from cover, preferably with a dumpster or wall unit in either hand. He's very new to the whole combat way of life, so is evolving his response to being shot at. He did not like it the first time. He did not like it at all. Personality Called 'Professor Pedantic' by his students for his classroom manner, Paul Lymer is more personable in social media, with his extensive blogs about how to best negotiate the complexities of academic office forms and procedures, and space elevator contemplations. It is only affectionate ribbing; Lymer has an aura of high regard among students who know what he would do for them, and fellow faculty who expected his PhD would have been awarded posthumously. Hesitatingly mild-mannered, Paul concentrates on precision in all things, seeming at understandable pains, for a main who spent almost a year in hospital and therapy regaining the ability to walk. Strand operates at a different scale, reveling in speed and strength and span. He's a combination of cautious distance and thrill seeker daring, more intensely after the months of recuperation from being blasted into pretty much every separate experiment in an overcrowded advanced bionanotech lab. Paul has no interest in revealing his transfiguration to the wider world, at least not until he comes to a better understanding of both. If VIPER were prepared to leave him for dead just for some prototypes of space elevator system components, Lymer shudders to think what they'd do to get their hands on tissue samples of a living space elevator. Quote Up! Up! ..One day! *Edit - Two Bit Inventor by moving 2 Body from Characteristics, and switching Systems Operator with Inventor. This gives the ability to MacGuyver some small gadgets (like say 2 points of Body in an OIF) with versatility, better expressing the character I'm after.

I'd definitely want to see some rounding out skills, at least the skill profile of a skilled normal is my general preference, but nicely done, and fittingly quickly. So.. 60 km/sec is undeniably speedster range and more than enough for any game purpose; can you get him to the speed of light, for bragging rights? (That's another ~5,000x as fast, I think?) Does he move fast underwater? Can he see where he's going at top speed? What would be his difficulties with getting into OIAID; a long delay, or something else at least somewhat debilitating in some way? I believe you can get there from here. Possibly you may need an END Battery or some such, but doable.

Some notes about how I envision the Gliding/DI combo to work. 1. I don't intend Gliding to remove the impact of the DI on the ground below c when he's powered up, but to spread it out reducing its damage. Sol Southern gains effective positional uncertainty, occupying a cloud of multiple locations simultaneously. Instead of his feet having a surface area of a few square inches, c more evenly spreads out the pressure of his relativistic mass. Which is still enough to leave a big dent. 2. On a ship, vehicle, moving apparatus (conveyor belt, amusement park ride, etc) or otherwise, the full impact of c's mass would be effective against the movement power of the vessel. This would also affect people holding or carrying Sol Southern's relativistic form. 3. When Gliding does or does not take over for Turn Mode is up to the GM to determine as the footing/terrain determine. Generally, I'm thinking of the Wally West 'Porcupine Man' effects of too much power running around, toned down so the damage isn't like a nuke set off around the character whenever he powers up, because he paid for Environmental Movement and Rapid Sight to be able to react in time to avoid the worst of the effects most of the time. 4. The Van der Waals Leaping straight up a wall is a different aspect of the character, where he effectively becomes ground lightning repelling himself from the ground using his electrokinetic connection with a vertical surface. For the most part, the surface bears the full weight of c's power as with point 2., but as with point 1. that weight is spread out by positional uncertainty. Doesn't mean every surface can handle even the dispersed weight, but then the power is not linked to DI, so Sol has the option of making himself vulnerable while ascending.

"..or there must be other difficulties or ways to prevent him from changing identities." At 8 levels of non-persistent DI (even with gliding to reduce impacts on the ground), mandatory invisibility, muteness, effective deafness, Sol Southern faces considerable other difficulties to accessing the c identity than a delay. Though yes, that's one of the reasons I prefer the last build over the second. I've always had issues with OIHID as anything but a (-0) limitation for most. The bigger issue is, I forgot the keystone of the character; that his SPD was supposed to go up with the DI turned on! It's in the Characteristics section, but not paid for in the powers, another oversight that advertises just how much better life would be for me with HeroDesigner. I'll go back and fix that with edits.

I admit to being a corrupted television watcher, and do want to do justice to the original. So here goes a couple of takes on it. One answer might be to alter the limitations on the powers: CP Powers Notes [END] as an Alternate ID with Unified Power Powers Relativistic Speed 40 DI Relativistic Speed x12 48 AP Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4) 60 AP OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [6] 400 Ton +60 STR -24m KB +12 PD +12 ED 15 Bare Advantage 0 END (+1/2) for 60 STR 30 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [0] 20 DEX +20 Linked to DI (-1/2) OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [-] 12 CON +25 Linked to DI (-1/2) OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [-] 12 INT +25 Linked to DI (-1/2) OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [-] 9 Rapid Sight x1000 7 Mental Defense 15 Relativistic Speed Cannot Turn Off (-0) Linked to DI (-1/2) OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [-] 22 OCV +9 45 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [-] 17 DCV +7 35 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [-] 7 DMCV +5 Relativistic Speed Cannot Turn Off (-0) Linked to DI (-1/2) OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [-] 30 Resistant Protection 15 rPD/15 rED OIF Metamaterial Suit (-1/2) [-] 12 Recovery +25 Linked to DI (-1/2) OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [-] 10 Regeneration 1 BODY/20 Minutes 10 AP [-] 2 Leaping 2m Van der Waals Force Effect 2 AP Megascale (1m=1km; Megascale +1) Only Straight Up Surfaces (-3/4) [1] 15 Bare Advantage on 21m RUN 1/2 END (+1/4) Usable as Swim (+1/4) Megascale (1m=1km; +1) 31 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [-] 5 Flight 6m 6 AP Position Shift (+5 AP) Gliding Only (-1) [0] 15 Invisibility to Sight Group 20 AP 0 END (+1/2) Cannot Turn Off (-0) Linked to DI (-1/2) OIAID (-1/4) Unified Power (-1/4) [0] 250 Total Powers I believe the preconditions on the Alternate ID -- invisible, super dense, distinctive movement modes, cannot hear/speak normally -- are sufficient to qualify for the limitation, and while suppress or drains are about as common as penetrating KA's, they affect all the powers just the same amount instead of knocking off one at a time. Sol Southern isn't going to be able to sneak into a gang undercover with the full benefits of his powers, nor keep his DI up at full while on the team jet, nor collaborate with other scientists while at the peak of his intellect. Or even wave his hands to get someone's attention. Alternately: Characteristics – c – aka Sol Southern as a more straightforward build less dependent on suit for powers VAL CHA CP Base Price END Roll Notes 15 STR 5 10 1 [1] 12- Lift 200 kg; 3d6 HTH; 55 STR w/DI Lift 50 ton, 11d6 18 DEX 16 10 2 13- 33 DEX 16- w/DI 13 CON 3 10 1 12- 33 CON 16- w/DI 13 INT 3 10 1 12- PER Roll 12-; 33 INT 16- w/DI 10 EGO 0 10 1 11- 10 PRE 0 10 1 11- PRE Attack: 2d6 3 OCV 0 3 5 9 OCV w/DI 3 DCV 0 3 5 8 DCV w/DI 3 OMCV 0 3 3 3 DMCV 0 3 3 6 DMCV w/DI 4 SPD 20 2 10 Phases: 12, 3, 6, 9; 7 SPD w/DI* 3 PD 1 2 1 18(15r) PD; 26(15r) w/DI 3 ED 1 2 1 18(15r) ED; 26(15r) w/DI 12 REC 8 4 1 32 REC w/DI 40 END 4 20 1/5 11 BODY 1 10 1 38 STUN 9 20 1/2 Meters Movement 4 LEAP 0 4 1/2 [1] up to half upward; Megascale 2m=2km 21 RUN 9 12 1 [2] X2 Noncombat; Megascale 8m=8km w/DI Usable As Swim 4 SWIM 0 4 1/2 [1] X2 Noncombat 80 Characteristics & Movement Total CP Powers Notes [END] Powers Relativistic Speed 40 DI Relativistic Speed x8 32 AP Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4) 40 AP [4] 25 Ton +40 STR -16m KB +8 PD +8 ED 13 Bare Advantage 0 END (+1/2) for 40 STR 20 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) [0] 20 DEX +15 Linked to DI (-1/2) [-] 13 CON +20 Linked to DI (-1/2) [-] 13 INT +20 Linked to DI (-1/2) [-] 9 Rapid Sight x1000 7 Mental Defense 10 Relativistic Speed Cannot Turn Off (-0) Linked to DI (-1/2) [-] 20 OCV +6 30 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) [-] 17 DCV +5 25 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) [-] 6 DMCV +3 Relativistic Speed 9 AP Cannot Turn Off (-0) Linked to DI (-1/2) [-] 20 SPD +3 30 AP Cannot Turn Off (-0) Linked to DI (-1/2) [-]* 30 Resistant Protection 15 rPD/15 rED OIF Metamaterial Suit (-1/2) [-] 13 Recovery +20 Linked to DI (-1/2) [-] 10 Regeneration 1 BODY/20 Minutes 10 AP [-] 2 Leaping 2m Van der Waals Force Effect 2 AP Megascale (1m=1km; Megascale +1) Only Straight Up Surfaces (-3/4) [1] 13 Bare Advantage on 8m RUN 1/2 END (+1/4) Usable as Swim (+1/4) Megascale (1m=1km; +1) 20 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) [-] 4 Flight 4m 6 AP Position Shift (+5 AP) Gliding Only (-1) [0] 20 Invisibility to Sight Group 20 AP 0 END (+1/2) 30 AP Cannot Turn Off (-0) Linked to DI (-1/2) [0] 270 Total Powers On the whole, I prefer the last of the three build options: the powers are more robust and straightforward without multiple limitations, and so what if there's a bit less raw power? He's already a SPD 12 7* Brick with moderate CV's, good DEF and plenty of movement options. All of the options keep a good core of skills, perks, talents and complications that adequately tell the story of the character, I think. And of the three options, as a GM, the last one is the one I'd have least trouble accepting.. Though I'm still wrapping my head around General Relativity. But then, who isn't? *Edited to fix that SPD was missed in the powers section, h/t Hyper-Man for the catch.

The summon idea reminds me of the old character Pandemonium, whose arms were replaced with demons' limbs (at the price of his soul). He gained the ability to conjure demons from out of his own substance. A lot of later comic book characters have similar special effects. So you're not after a particularly Fae person, but a person who is a Fae gate or personification of a Faerie Ring? Seems cool. Although, I'd build in a price to her powers. Fae always like a nice, orderly account book that way. Such as maybe for each Seelie summoned, one Unseelie must be, too. (Like Ultimate Powers from PS238.)

Yes. Excellent points. 1. I appreciate the math, as I hadn't gone to the extent of working out the exact level of advantage that would be necessary. I'd purposely kept the character's movement speed much lower than it will eventually become, to give him room to grow from starting level. His sneezes and breathing, his heart rate, his blinking, his pulse, the chemical exchanges of his synapses? Those can move at relativistic speeds now, and drive the mass increase. Much like some speedsters stand nearly still and vibrate back and forth to achieve invisibility or intangibility due high speed, while Sol is not yet a good enough inventor to make a suit that gets him so much closer to the speed of light without friction injury, he doesn't have a requirement for running speed to make him massive, relying instead on small muscle and other motion. I don't intend to ever have 'c' exceed the speed of light, but instead to explore Einsteinian relativity, possibly achieving teleportation by effectively becoming energy, for example, or turning his body heat selectively toward gamma frequency in a particular direction as an EB. 2. Yes. The weakness in the design is on purpose, and actually took a lot of head-scratching to figure out how to implement. The character has extremely high CV, special defenses, high DEF, high movement and high STR, but he has an exploitable disadvantage that if used against him will leave him vulnerable and combat ineffective, with only regeneration, gliding, 3 SPD, speed reading, 8m running, and about 20 CP of skills separating him from a competent normal. Between the choice of lower abilities with lesser limitation, and a playably challenging limitation to give the character something to work toward, I chose to go with the high risk gamble. It wouldn't be difficult to play the character with lesser power and no dependency on a suit, but then that would fail one of the key elements of the homage, as the original had the same limitation for a time.

You are quite right! I'd been editing the power levels late at night, and messed up. Will edit. Thanks for the catch.

Hero Designer does indeed rock. But if I don't practice doing the math by hand and checking my work, I slide into having fun and getting things done faster. And who wants that?

Characteristics – c – aka Sol Southern VAL CHA CP Base Price END Roll Notes 15 STR 5 10 1 [1] 12- Lift 200 kg; 3d6 HTH; 75 STR w/DI Lift 3.2 Mt 15d6* 18 DEX 16 10 2 13- 38 DEX 17- w/DI 13 CON 3 10 1 12- 38 CON 17- w/DI 13 INT 3 10 1 12- PER Roll 12-; 38 INT 17- w/DI 10 EGO 0 10 1 11- 10 PRE 0 10 1 11- PRE Attack: 2d6 3 OCV 0 3 5 12 OCV w/DI 3 DCV 0 3 5 10 DCV w/DI 3 OMCV 0 3 3 3 DMCV 0 3 3 8 DMCV w/DI 4 SPD 20 2 10 Phases: 12, 3, 6, 9; 8 SPD w/DI** 3 PD 1 2 1 18(15r) PD; 30(15r) w/DI 3 ED 1 2 1 18(15r) ED; 30(15r) w/DI 12 REC 8 4 1 37 REC w/DI 40 END 4 20 1/5 11 BODY 1 10 1 38 STUN 9 20 1/2 Meters Movement 4 LEAP 0 4 1/2 [1] up to half upward 21 RUN 9 12 1 [2] X2 Noncombat; Megascale 1m=1km w/DI 4 SWIM 0 4 1/2 [1] X2 Noncombat 80 Characteristics & Movement Total CP Powers Notes [END] Powers Relativistic Speed 40 DI Relativistic Speed x12 48 AP Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4) 60 AP OIF Metamaterial Suit [6] 400 Ton +60 STR -24m KB +12 PD +12 ED 15 Bare Advantage 0 END (+1/2) for 60 STR 30 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [0]* 20 DEX +20 Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [-] 12 CON +25 Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [-] 12 INT +25 Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [-] 9 Rapid Sight x1000 7 Mental Defense 15 Relativistic Speed Cannot Turn Off (-0) Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [-] 22 OCV +9 45 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [-] 17 DCV +7 35 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [-] 7 DMCV +5 Relativistic Speed Cannot Turn Off (-0) Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [-] 20 SPD +4 Cannot Turn Off (-0) Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [-]** 30 Resistant Protection 15 rPD/15 rED OIF Metamaterial Suit (-1/2) [-] 12 Recovery +25 Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [-] 10 Regeneration 1 BODY/20 Minutes 10 AP [-] 2 Leaping 2m Van der Waals Force Effect 2 AP Megascale (1m=1km; Megascale +1) Only Straight Up Surfaces (-3/4) [1]* 15 Bare Advantage on 21m RUN 1/2 END (+1/4) Usable as Swim (+1/4) Megascale (1m=1km; +1) 31 AP Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [-] 5 Flight 6m 6 AP Position Shift (+5 AP) Gliding Only (-1) [0] 15 Invisibility to Sight Group 20 AP 0 END (+1/2) Cannot Turn Off (-0) Linked to DI (-1/2) OIF (-1/2) [0] 270 Total Powers** Perks 2 Access: Crime Scene Investigator 0 Positive Reputation: Street kid kept his nose clean became track star and scholarship winner 2 Total Perks Talents 6 Environmental Movement – no penalties at relativistic speeds 3 Lightning Calculator 3 Lightsleep 12 Total Talents Enhancers 3 Scientist 3 Total Enhancers Skills General Skills - AK: Campaign City Everyman 8- - KS: Police Procedure 11- 2 KS: Street/Gang Life 11- 2 LS: Spanish Fluent - LS: English Native Everyman – Literate - PS: Everyman Crime Scene Investigator 11- - TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles 4 Total General Skills Intellect Skills 3 Computer Programming 12-/17- 3 Criminology 12-/17- 3 Cryptography 12-/17- 3 Deduction 12-/17- 3 Forensic Medicine 12-/17- 3 Inventor 12-/17- 8 SS: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Nanotechnology 12-/17- 26 Total Intellect Skills Interaction Skills 3 Streetwise 11- 3 Total Interaction Skills 300 Total Powers, Perks, Talents, Enhancers & Skills 400 Total CP Complications 5 DNPC: Floating 5 Distinctive Feature: Blurred/Chipmunk voice when Running above 12m, using any powers 10 Hunted: Floating (As Powerful, NCI, PC Easy to Find, Watching Only, Infrequently) 0 Physical Limitation: Cannot Hear/Speak at Relativistic Speeds (aware of sounds only as a buzz) 10 Psych Lim: Boy Scout Mentality 10 Psych Lim: Code of Honor (Uncommon, Moderate) 10 Psych Lim: Code vs Killing (Uncommon, Moderate) 0 Psych Lim: Scientific Curiosity 0 Rivalry: Floating 15 Social: Secret Identity, Sol Southern, CSI 10 Social: Subject to Orders (Keep Police Confidences, On Call; Infrequent, Major) 75 Total Complications Background Sol Southern was a street kid who kept his nose clean and stayed away from the lure of gang life. He became a gifted track star and scholarship athlete, determined to use his gifts to help others who had been like him, whose homes were broken by crime and whose lives were touched by too much death. This may be why Sol turned his scientific skills toward crime scene investigation, to support the police in catching and putting away the right suspect, to speak for those who were dead, and to help right wrongs. It was why Sol took up the work of the long dead scientist whose body had been discovered in his laboratory, where Sol's investigation took him. The garage inventor left no will and no family. He had been trying to perfect tachyon-vision, a device for seeing into the past. Sol had the advantage of decades of advances in technology, and the disadvantage of being driven by purpose and curiousity to experiment alone and unwisely triggered a cascade that transformed the young investigator's body to a living being capable of attaining relativistic velocities almost instantly. Powers As he approaches the speed of light, passing the point where he can run on water due the inertia of water, even run on air due Heisenberg Uncertainty, past the speed where sound is meaningful, where his form is visible, where even thought is remote and alien, Sol's mind races too, able to process ideas over two million times faster than when at normal velocity. And of course, as force is proportional to mass times acceleration squared, Sol becomes truly strong and durable beyond the ordinary experience of the normal world. It is only Heisenberg's Principle that prevents Sol's mere footfalls from shattering the mantle of the Earth, rather allowing him to glide smoothly along the ground as a blur instead. Sol very quickly discovered he needed protective clothing to move at these speeds, and thus his 'meteen' suit was born of his speed-enhanced genius. Able to unfold the frictionless meteen armor from the size of a coin and don it in a nanosecond, Sol becomes the near speed-of-light superhero 'c', and steps into that strange world beyond street crime and standard police procedure. *Edited March 9, to correct STR issues and add Megaleap. **Edited March 10 to fix SPD issue.

Mr. Jervis.. Because I misremembered the name Madison Jeffries from Alpha Flight, conflating him with Jarvis from Avengers.. Oops. Problems with the character? He's charmingly built, balanced, tells a story with his character sheet. I'm slightly worried he's a bit under-defended for a mad taunter who openly carries a weapon and can't outrun an unskilled normal in a phase, even with that whopping 16 DCV attainable with Martial Dodge, considering the ship's infirmary has only a 10- Paramedics roll. With the right team of PC's, that won't be a problem at all, he'd be an enormous asset with the ship and base and skills, and every team needs one. He'd make a slightly better villain, if the heroes are all good-natured and know to check to see if they're fighting someone with near zero defenses and have codes vs. killing. At least he's comfortable "that his life would not have been without meaning," so that's something. On the whole, if I were the GM I'd prefer he have some means to survive three average strikes of his own weapon without going into the optional bleeding rules; my general rule is capable of taking two strikes from his own best attack while staying out of the negatives, so your character easily passes that test. His attacks/CV's balance to just below the usual I'm used to, and he's well made and looks fun, which is the real decider., but sure, for a 60 AP campaign while he might end up injured and unconscious in some combats, he has a secure place to heal up and means to escape pursuit.. Which brings me to the megascale movement question for the ship.. No megascale? I know 128x 30m sounds darn fast, and at SPD 5 could break atmosphere at just under half of Mach 5 in only about fifteen minutes (or descend from space in a quarter of that at well over Mach 9..).. but.. but.. mega sounds so.. mega.

Sorry. Lexx was the name of the tv series with a dragonfly-shaped ship; Firefly was aka Serenity. Blue Beetle isn't someone I generally think of out-of-armor; I'm more familiar with the hapless-everyman randomly trapped by a supersuit version. Even so, yours is swashbucklingly appealing as a character. I might even suggest Striking Appearance to AI's for his Cyberpathy.

I've been looking at other builds, on the premise that G.R.I.T. might be considered a follower or vehicle, The Ladder a form of base, and Tenebro's characteristics and powers would largely come from Aid or Heal from the vehicle. While the outcome is similar, and in some ways closer to my imagining of a nanite-integrated martial artist, and it is considerably cheaper as a build, by about 150 pts overall, I'm still not convinced it's the right way to go just because it's less expensive. Tenebro isn't conceived of as a combat pilot operating an under-the-skin walking machine; he's a single -- albeit prodigiously gifted -- being coping with being the first of his kind (that he knows of), and that's a substantial difference. On the whole, I'm happy with the character at the 720 pt level. While I can see effective paths for trimming down to 400 CP, the stories I want to tell about him start at this build. For storytelling, I'm happy to keep Tenebro as is. Maybe for game play I might build a version of Jake Reiger at an even earlier age, a few months younger before The Ladder and G.R.I.T. and with considerably less honed skills: Characteristics - Walkover - aka Jake Reiger Boy Genius VAL CHA CP Base Price END Roll Notes 25 STR 12 10 1 [1] -14 Lift 800 kg; 5d6 HTH - 10 STR OIF (-½) Walking Suit 23 DEX 23 10 2 -14 5 DEX OIF (-½) Walking Suit 19 CON 7 10 1 -13 5 CON OIF (-½) Walking Suit 38 INT 19 10 1 [1] -17 PER Roll 17-; 15 INT Cost END to Start (-¼) OAF (-1) HUD 23 EGO 13 10 1 -14 25 PRE 12 10 1 [1] -14 PRE Attack: 5d6; 10 PRE Cost END to Start (-¼) Unified Power (-¼) Hypnotism 8 OCV 20 3 5 3 OCV OIF (-½) 8 DCV 20 3 5 3 DCV OIF (-½) 6 OMCV 9 3 3 6 DMCV 9 3 3 6 SPD 33 2 10 Phases: 12, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10; 2 SPD OIF (-½) 6 PD 4 2 1 11(5r) PD 4 ED 2 2 1 9(5r) ED 4 REC 0 4 1 20 END 0 20 ½ 10 BODY 0 10 1 20 STUN 0 20 ½ Meters Movement 4 LEAP 0 4 ½ [1] up to half upward 12 RUN 0 12 1 [1] X2 Noncombat 4 SWIM 0 4 ½ [1] X2 Noncombat 183 Characteristics & Movement Total CP Powers Notes [END] Powers 5 Mental Defense 5 AP Hypnotist 5 AP [-] 5 Mental Illusion 3d6 Hypnotism-as-Skill 15 AP Increased Cumulative Points ( 72 AP; +1) ½ END (+¼) 31 AP Concentration (0 DCV; -½) Extra Time (1 turn; -1¼) Eye Contact (-½) Hypnosis Only (cannot achieve full range of Mental Illusion effects; -½) Linked to Mental Illusion (greater power linked to lesser power, must use lesser power at full value -¾) No Range (-½) Reduced Penetration (-¼) Requires Conversation Roll (-½) Unified Power (-¼) [1] 4 Mind Control 2d6 Hypnotism-as-Skill 10 AP Increased Cumulative Points ( 48 AP; +1) 0 END (+½) 25 AP Concentration (0 DCV; -½) Extra Time (1 turn; -1¼) Eye Contact (-½) Hypnosis Only (cannot achieve full range of Mind Control effects; -½) Linked to Mental Illusion (lesser power linked to greater power, must use greater power at full value -¾) No Range (-½) Reduced Penetration (-¼) Requires Persuasion Roll (-½) Unified Power (-¼) [0] 10 Resistant Protection 5 rPD/rED 15 AP OIF (-1/2) Walking Suit [-] 20 VPP Pool STEM Versatility 20 AP [-] 13 VPP Control Cost STEM 20 AP Only STEM-based Powers (electro-biological/electro-mechanical adjustment, limited attacks, defense, limited movement, senses; may depend on available materials/energy -½) [-] 57 Total Powers Perks 0 Positive Reputation: former child prodigy (world of academia, martial arts, stage magic) 8- 0 Total Perks Talents - precocious former child prodigy 4 Double Jointed - Natural Gift, Lifetime Training, Tae Kwon Do 5 Eidetic Memory - Mnemonics, Method of Loci, Natural Gift 3 Lightning Calculator - Vedic Arithmetic, Natural Gift 1 Lightning Reflexes +2 Dex All HTH Attacks - Iaido 3 Speed Reader 10x Evelyn Woods Method, Natural Gift 16 Total Talents Enhancers - precocious former child prodigy 3 Linguist - Natural Gift, Lifelong Study 3 Scholar - (former) Child Prodigy 3 Scientist - (former) Child Prodigy 9 Total Enhancers Skills Two time Under-18 World Non-contact Martial Arts Champion 2 Martial Arts Aikido, Iaido, Tae Kwon Do & Wu Shu, Usable Empty-Handed, with Sword, Staff 4 Martial Block +2 +2 Block, Abort - Aikido Shiite 5 Disarming Throw +0 +0 Grab Weapon, +5 STR to take weapon away; Target Falls - Aikido Disarm 4 Martial Dodge - +5 Abort - Aikido Sidestep 4 Martial Escape +0 +0 +15 Str vs Grab - Aikido Ukemi 3 Martial Grab -1 -1 +10 Str to Hold - Aikido Joint Lock 4 Martial Strike +0 +2 Strike, +2d6 - Wu Shu punch, Tae Kwon Do kick 3 Martial Throw +0 +1 STR +v/5; Target Falls - Aikido Throw 3 Acrobatics 14- Tae Kwon Do, Parkour 3 Breakfall 14- Aikido (Up to 17- w/Double Jointed) 1 Contortionist 8- Wu Shu (Up to 11- w/Double Jointed) 6 Aikido Skill 2 levels 20 Combat Skill Levels Martial Arts Training: 5 pt levels x2; x3 OIF (-1/2) Armor 62 Total Combat Skills (Martial Arts Training) Agility Skills - Enhanced Gifted Athlete 3 Climbing 14- - Eagle Scout Training 3 Sleight of Hand 14- - Stage Magician Training - Stealth Everyman 8- 1 Teamwork 8- - Eagle Scout Training, Aikido 7 Total Agility Skills General Skills - Enhanced Prodigy - AK: Virginia Everyman 8- - KS: Aikido Everyman 11- 14 LS Spanish, French, German, Italian, Latin, Cantonese, Russian, Hindi, Yiddish, Sardinian, Japanese, Aramaic, Cree, Hebrew, (2 pts each + language family) - LS English Native Everyman – Literate, Dialects - PS Everyman Busker: Stage Magician 11- - TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles 14 Total General Skills Intellect Skills - Enhanced Genius 1 Analyze Martial Style 8- 3 Computer Programming 17- 3 Concealment 17- 1 Cryptography 8- 3 Deduction 17- 1 Disguise 8- 1 Electronics 8- 1 Gambling (Stage Magic, Mathematics, Anthropology & Neuropsychology of Game Players) 8- 3 Inventor 17- (Skill for STEM Pool Control) 4 KS Scout Lore, Games, Military History, Stage Magic 11- 1 Lipreading 8- 3 Lockpicking 17- 1 Mechanics 8- 1 Mimicry 8- - Paramedics Everyman 8- 3 PS Researcher, Neurologist, Engineer 8- 3 Security Systems 17- - Shadowing Everyman 8- 1 Survival 8- 7 SS Anthropology, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Microbiology 11- 1 Systems Operations 8- 1 Tracking 8- 1 Ventriloquism 8- 44 Total Intellect Skills Interaction Skills - Social Engineering & Stage Magic 1 Acting 8- 3 Conversation 14- 16- w/Striking Appearance 1 Oratory 8- 3 Persuasion 14- 16- w/Striking Appearance 8 Total Interaction Skills 217 Total Powers, Perks, Talents, Enhancers & Skills 400 Total CP Complications 0 DNPC: Floating 5 Distinctive Feature: Teenager 10 Hunted: Floating (As Powerful, NCI, PC Easy to Find, Watching Only, Infrequently) 0 Negative Reputation: Former Child Prodigy (Infrequent, Only to a Small Group) 10 Psych Lim: A Magician Never Reveals (Uncommon, Moderate) 0 Psych Lim: Boy Scout Mentality 10 Psych Lim: Code of Honor (Uncommon, Moderate) 10 Psych Lim: Code vs Killing (Uncommon, Moderate) 0 Psych Lim: Scientific Curiosity 5 Rivalry: Floating 15 Social: Secret Identity, Dr. Jacob Reiger, young former child prodigy 10 Social: Floating (Infrequent, Major) 75 Total Complications

Impressive. Sort of Dragonfly meets Firefly meets Mr. Jervis, with a trace of The Phantom? I'm now inspired to try to rewrite Tenebro along similar lines, with G.R.I.T. as a follower/vehicle sharing the same space as the hero's body. I think as a GM I'd tend to question such a build.. but as the player I'm wondering why not?

Stretching fiber-optic fingers periscopically around corners, Tenebro scouted ahead, counting all four shapes he expected to see: Liam huddled on the floor, bound and gagged with Maria standing over him, her back to Tenebro's vantage point. Chad was near the elbow of Hamish Sitteach-Lamh, working to circumvent the vault's time-locks and fool it into thinking it was opening time. Grrl was grooming the luridly green and purple striped fur of her forearms with her tongue, squatting atop a table, tail swishing slowly. Periscopic vision wasn't ideal, giving distorted sense of size and distance, but it allowed Jacob to build a mind map for his next trick. Distracting the audience with a good impersonation of Red Dachi's shouting voice, drawing their eyes while Maria's fists balled up menacingly; Grrl slowed her cleaning then resumed it again nonchalantly, ears swiveling toward the lobby, perked; Chad's head turned toward Maria, not the sound of No Dachi, and Hamish remained focused on his task, answering, "Oy. Red. Whatcha bin told 'bout dat jibber-jabber? Talk proper English, mate. Don't want ter make Ringer's puir wee Brazen lassie fidgety-like." That confirmed for Tenebro as he slid past their perceptions that none of the four spoke Japanese, what with the ventriliquism being a standard order of octopus and carp head soup with a side of ginger rolls and tamago. When ready, with a swirl of hakima and sleeves, 'Red Dachi' popped into view. And Jake saw Maria clearly, an effort of will preventing the teenage boy's jaw from dropping and his voice from cracking as she turned her bronze face with a whirl of coppery curls flowing over her glinting shoulder and cascading down to a Grateful Dead tattoo etched at the small of her back. "Easy boy, she's taken, and a literal ton of trouble besides" Tenebro told Jake inside their shared head, pointing out the obvious attachment between Chad in the ring-festooned costume and the eight-foot tall brass Amazon woman. "She's an obstacle, not a damsel in distress. Respect that she has to be at least as strong as a forklift to even be able to move. Maybe take advantage that she's here reluctantly, and none too coordinated." Grrl hissed as she produced claws from her fingertips. Tenebro was far from the strangest being in this room. Brazen must be organometallic, he noted to himself. "Red, lad, yuir off yuir post. Get back on watch", Hamish ordered. "An' hoof it, ye Eastern Devil. Ye know how that magic sword o' yuirs gives tha girlies fits." Tenebro took advantage of the flat-footed surprise of the villains to launch a sweep of Grrl, Ringer and Sitteach-Lamh with the flat of the fake magic sword he wielded, electric taser added to the blunt force failing to work against Ringer, but flattening Grrl entirely and stunning the Scotsman. The blunt force had broken one of Ringer's ablative defensive rings, but did no more. Predictably, Brazen stepped clumsily forward and swung with far more strength than precision, imbedding a fist in the reinforced syncrete wall. Unpredictably, Ringer surrounded 'Red Dachi' in a confining set of toroidal force bubbles. If he had more time to study the rings, Jake would be fascinated. Also, Brazen was extraordinarily anatomically distracting to a teenage boy. To save Jake from himself, Tenebro slipped loose of the bonds while the three remaining conscious opponents recovered. His purpose was to rescue the hostage, not showboat. With the only villain able to track and catch him out of action, Tenebro didn't let up as he slid out of the rings, but picked up Liam, and throwing the man over his shoulder sprinted out of the bank under the cover of darkness as a cloud of gritty dust obscured senses, frustrating the villain squad. The call went out from the team at the bank to the condo, "Shoot the hostages and return to base." The post-hypnotic duo fired six shots, two for each hostage, missing them by a goodly margin, then between them scooped up the three fallen agents and returned to base, with no memory anything odd had happened, other than the strange weapons malfunction that knocked out three of their number and made the other two weapons fizzle after killing their targets. To the five team of agents, the banker's family were dead, as had always been the plan. Red Dachi had escaped, but would remain in VIPER's infirmary for a goodly time, his psychopathy a danger only to VIPER medibots. VIPER was busy adding Omu Senshi to its database of targets, with only a description that turned out to be the spitting image of long dead actor David Tomlinson as George Banks. VIPER leadership was sorely tempted to execute Red Dachi for dereliction, based on Sitteach-Lamh's report. The banker had disappeared into PRIMUS protective custody after the murder of his family (even VIPER was unaware they had survived unharmed), and the MacGuffin had been moved from the vault, entailing more expensive tracking by VIPER to locate it and mount its extraction again. Lab assistants Chad and Maria met a new friend the following week, young Jake, who wanted to join their university Chemistry Club. He'd been at the university for two years now, it was time he started to participate in it socially, he said. Not like other seventeen year olds weren't in the Club. Of course they'd been freshmen, not advanced grads. Chad and Maria laughed in privately at how tongue-tied little Jake got around her.. but not in a mean way. Not really. It's not like Chad had put a ring on it.

I recommend a perusal of Supernatural Season Six, Episode 9 for inspiration. And of course, there's various games with Fae character builds and options to draw upon. While some think sidhe is exclusively an Irish or Celtic concept, other Indo-European cultures feature 'siddhi' or elemental (which include such elements as 'death' and 'spirit') imps as well. Callicantzaroi are Greek earth elemental fae, for example. Whether you're aiming for the Courts of Light and Darkness, man-eating goblins, floating blobs of light, or something more primal, even the sky is not the limit. So while I have in my head a particularly rakish spritely build of mischief and mystery, I'm with the rest; 'Fae' is an overbroad category, perhaps a narrower scope might help. What do you have in mind, specifically?

"Here I am," Jake thought to himself from the edge of a crenelated rooftop above the dark streets, "not old enough to vote but old enough to go to jail for consecutive lif.. NO." That inner voice derailed his train of thought, "NO. Use Method. Be Tenebro. Tenebro is ageless. No jail can grasp Tenebro. Tenebro is not a citizen, but a precept." Exhaling a great cleansing breath, Jacob Reiger reached deep into his meditative center, self-hypnotizing, remaking himself to be Tenebro, the creation of grit and purpose, born concealed defensively in discovery and protective silence. The hidden hero within arose. Tenebro leapt from the parapet, seeing all with grit, vaulting in quiet ease from surface to surface using more than parkour skill and enhanced gymnastic agility. Moonless night, clear sky cloudlessly dispersing light pollution without reflection, Tenebro's surface shifting like a dark chameleon as he raced for his destination, guided by grit, silent as dust. Inside his head the details rolled, blueprints and personnel files and conviction records, schematics and plundered decrypted messages he'd deduced would lead five career criminals to make a banker's family their hostages, while five more used the banker as a shield and living key to enter the vault. Tenebro replayed voice clips over and over, training his pitch and inflection, pondering nuance and motivation. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect. He was outside a triple glazed window of the banker's 23rd floor condominium. Heat signatures showed Tenebro five hostage-takers and three victims in other rooms. Grit seeped around the edge of the window, denaturing the adhesive, and ultravibrational modes crisscrossed the panes until the moment of glassbending warped the triple sheet out of the frame with a soft rush of air. Slipping into the darkened master bedroom and pulling the glass back into place, reversing the process that opened the way, the magician erased all trace of the trick, and scanned his surrounds. Tenebro found the access to the ductwork above the closet organizer, and contorted to fit through the narrow passages, carefully compensating for his added weight using magnetic fields to prevent noise, finding himself above the two armed goons monitoring the security cameras within the banker's panic room. Popping out the vent, the martial artist dropped from the ceiling without a hint of shifting shadow to give him away, having eluded the security systems by being inside it from the start. A single motion disarmed both kidnappers and threw them into the reinforced, soundproofed, earthquake-proof reinforced syncrete wall, knocking the wind out of their lungs and stunning them momentarily. A second jab, using their own blasters like clamps, painfully pinned the duo's wrists at their own throats, as Tenebro locked eyes on the one he'd judged more susceptible to manipulation, while the other quietly choked into senselessness. Whispering, low and deep and insidious reached down inside the thug's subconscious mind, weaving images, disembodied voices and false memory seamlessly. The rescuer's newly-willing ally gave the regular all's-well check-in code and counter-code with the trio holding the banker's family. No, Tenebro reminded himself, Katy, Kathleen and Philip. They were people, not bank property. Their husband and father was Liam, not 'the banker'. With every second counting, Tenebro concentrated now on bringing back around the throttled thug, too, hypnotizing her with more care and effort, so on her turn her check-in could proceed. He half heard the first hypnotized criminal give his check-in with the five-team at the bank, with military efficiency. Military? Tenebro rechecked the personnel files, the criminal record, castigating himself. They'd been doctored. There was more to this than met the eye. So warned, Tenebro proceeded with extraordinary tiers of caution. The masks the men wore contained concealed filters and very advanced rebreather technology. Cross-referencing, the same design was associated in an old Ladder file under.. VIPER. Examining the thug's gear in greater detail, Tenebro assessed their threat level and defenses, and edited his plan with improvisations to circumvent VIPER agent protections. Breathing out a cloud of grit, Tenebro controlled its flow through the vents into the adjoining room, where the hostages were trembling and weeping under the watch of three heavily armed, highly trained terrorist combat veterans. The grit went to work, altering circuit pathways and shifting functions and then, coordinating with his own programmed attack, Tenebro emerged from the panic room just as the blasters discharged their entire energy reserves through the hands of their wielders, shocking them unconscious while they still stood, three vicious Tae Kwon Do kicks to their heads crumpling the trio before the hostages could even scream. Crouching, loosing the victim's bonds, Tenebro began explaining, "Liam is still in danger. I know this will be hard for you. It is much to ask. Liam needs you to remain very still, to act as if you are still hostages, until you can be brought out of here. The two .. kidnappers in the panic room have.. become cooperative. They cannot harm you, but they must remain in place, signalling as if all is well so their partners with Liam do not become suspicious. Can you do this for Liam?" Jake, deep within the head of Tenebro gaped a little. Does he not see he's terrifying them? The bank wasn't far. Liam wouldn't have much time. Tenebro had five serious threats to neutralize, and a bank to break into. He raced through the night like a blur of grit, leaving the banker's family to play their part. Trouble. The banker had demanded proof his family was safe and unharmed, becoming bravely obstinate. Radio exchanges crackled between the fiveteam at the bank and the duo at the condo. Tenebro prayed his hypnotic suggestion would hold, the hostages would play their part. And redoubled his speed in case of the worst. Penetrating a bank proved remarkably easy, Tenebro considered. He was forgetting how unlike human he'd made himself. That would be a tendency to watch out against, Jake noted. Then, the worst. This wasn't a VIPER fiveteam, he faced. This was a VIPER special squad. Red Dachi stood guard in the bank lobby while the rest were further in, out of sight, with Liam, the banker. A precious impulse of mischief flitted across Tenebro's mind. Mr. Banks from Mary Poppins popped into his head as he lurked, studying Red Dachi, looking for an opening in the perilous defenses of the villainous sentry. Grit fabricated a bowler hat and 19th century British upperclass garb, right down to a parrot-headed walkingstick umbrella. Through the bank doors strolled like a figure from the Disney film the picture of bankerdom, quietly singing soto voce: "..bank is run with precision .. home requires nothing less Tradition, discipline and rules must be the tools With out them disorder, catastrophe, anarchy In short you have a ghastly mess Red Dachi stomped forward, sneering, ::Western Fool! You sing your own dirge as you dance toward your grave!:: Apparently, either the sociopathic samurai had not seen the movie, or he shared PJ Travers' opinion of the Disney version. ::Who is the greater fool, the man with a song on his lips, or the warrior who has sold his honor for rice shares?:: the banker replies, in passable Japanese, citing the Renowned Sage of the seventeenth century court in Edo. Red Dachi believes himself to be the reincarnation of Miyomoto Musashi. ::Barbarian scum! You dare offend the honor of Shinmen Takezō?! If you had a blade, you might die like a warrior. Instead, you will be butchered like a pig!:: Tenebro-as-Mr.-Banks casually parries the first charge of the psychopath, returning to song, mockingly, "I feel a surge of deep satisfaction, Much as a king astride his noble steed, When I return from daily strife to hearth and wife; How pleasant is the life I lead." Rather than outrage, Red Dachi seems pleased, grinning with obvious malicious glee. ::At last. An opponent worthy of dying by the blade of Niten Dōraku!:: Tenebro now realized he would be facing the full on assault of the Two Swords style. He mustered all his grit, dismissing the private thought, "..not old enough to buy beer, but old enough to face a man who's murdered dozens of people with a sword in single combat.." and drew from the umbrella sheath a carbon composite katana blade, hard as diamond, black as villainy. Singing, "..I'm the lord of my castle, the sovereign, the liege; I treat my subjects -- servants, children, wife -- With a firm but gentle hand: noblesse oblige." Red Dachi's VIPER-engineered armor (Reiger noted, with disdain, fake authenticity) blunted Tenebro's blade; Jake had no problem with configuring grit to be defense the equal of the psychopath's attacks, being honorable not stupid. The passes were lethal in force and so fast an ordinary observer would not even see the blades. Even defended as they were, both combatants took cuts, although Tenebro faked the blood from his, a disturbing shade of blue. Just as abruptly as the fight began, it ended, with Red Dachi sheathing his sword and bowing. ::Your technique is true. I cannot defeat you at this time. I choose to withdraw to face you another day. You may pass unhindered, Parrot-warrior.:: And with that, and a swirl of hakima and mantle, the pseudosamurai vanished, teleporting beyond Tenebro's senses by some means beyond Reiger's science. "Well, isn't that.. fascinating," Tenebro exclaimed softly. He took a moment for his grit to heal his injuries, then reconfigure to face the other four kidnappers deeper in the bank.

Knowing little about the build overall, I'd recommend Multiform, and I'd recommend heavily altering her skills between those day and night appropriate (eg. Bureaucratics by day, Charm by night, Acrobatics and Oratory by day, Stealth and Streetwise by night) to expand on the theme. To my mind, this Multiform is truly No Conscious Control (-2) by RAW. Of course, if she had a teammate with Mental Illusions who could switch her flip any time, that would reduce the limitation, and of course 'Only at Night' would no longer be an appropriate limitation for Sunset's powers, since she only exists at night (unless the Mental Illusion forced the change, but still didn't provide the condition for the powers to work). Sounds like a cool concept. Would be nice to see posted as a WIP or final version.

I like this villain. Dangerous, and highly risky to be stupid around him, with those maneuvers and defenses that give him immense range and the ability to remain lethal even when prone and while facing overwhelming opposition. That Damage Negation is really a huge obstacle for opponents to overcome: by 'martial arts', does it include ordinary fists (say a punch from a Brick, ie would it take off just the two extra DC's of a martial strike or also 3 DC's from 15 STR)? Also, does it affect Knockback? I've noticed for a guy named 'Tank' he's almost as subject to being tossed around as an ordinary person otherwise, and might be called 'Turtle' because of it, by those who have attacks he doesn't negate, while he's even more Tank-like for those who are more gun-and-swordplay based. I really like the Damage Negation in this build, in part as it creates a natural demarcation between skilled normals with guns and superhumans, who on the whole will have so much less trouble with Tank (though by no means is he a cake-walk for many of them). I'm thinking of Captain Brooklyn from Justice, whose steel skin was specifically overcome by Seraph's scythe, custom built to cut steel.

Background Jacob Reiger was a child prodigy. As a Beaver Cub, he'd earned every merit badge and precociously taught himself the entire high school curriculum, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Latin and Cantonese and the sciences he came to love. As a Cub Scout, Jake earned all those merit badges and a university degree in Anthropology, came first in his age group for Mathematics and Physics contests at the national level, learned Russian, Hindi, Yiddish, Sardinian, Japanese, Aramaic, Cree and Persian while developing a fascination for stage magic and becoming one of the Magic Guild's youngest autodydacts, with specialty in prop magic and escapology and a fascination for mentalism. As a Boy Scout, Jacob earned yet more merit badges and was for three years running the national champion all-round non-contact mixed martial artist in the under 18 category with techniques dubbed by some spectators as 'Skykido' or 'Wire Line Samurai'. (A competition many 'serious' martial artists sneer at as the rhythmic gymnastics of the combat arts world, except if that world were North America and three countries in Europe; some allege cultural appropriation by Western business as well.) By the age of seventeen, Jacob Reiger defended and published three simultaneous PhD theses involving his project to launch a satellite network by feeding spiders an exotic diet of metals to induce refractive webcasting, and then pulsing a microwave emitter to loft millions of young hatchlings through the stratosphere, converting their webs into a massive sparse matrix dish reflector aimed Earthwards, he called 'Project Ladder'. The 'satellites' were virtually invisible, an array of microscopically thin strands spread out around the planet, detectable only by polarizing interferometry, a technique Jacob invented himself. He'd already moved onto radical photolithography on graphite with surprising results by the time his degrees were granted. Jacob combined the 'Graphite Lithographic Interpolated Circuit' technology to use the network of orbiting spider web reflectors to receive and decode signals from almost every electronic device on the planet. Reading what he found, Reiger had a small nervous breakdown. Covert terrorist organizations, cults, monsters, mad science groups, businesses profiting secretly from every form of deranged and bizarre infliction of suffering, menace and malfeasance. It shocked and dismayed the youngster. The Eagle Scout felt naked and fragile in a shell of childhood ignorance, when he had been so optimistic he could heal the world's ills, for so many years of his brilliant youth. The first thing he did was to clothe himself against what he'd discovered, to arise fully fledged in the best he could produce.. Powers ..and Dr. Jake Reiger, the teenage phenom who launched an invisible global surveillance satellite network with a few spiders, some pulverized metal, and a dish antenna made from tinfoil could produce very impressive fledging indeed. Mantles of programmable, deeply encrypted, ergometric transparent graphene circuits fit to every cell in his body, imperceptably below the Abbe Resolution limit, integrating with Reiger's every function, gave Jake the power of a tenebrous superhuman: nigh immortality -- and when he chose, virtual invulnerability -- and electrobiochemical sensors linked to the Ladder, regenerative mechanisms and the ability to reconfigure the conformation of his own cells almost without limit.. (in Jake's mind, this isn't a run-on sentence). Jake believes Tenebro is ready to step into the world he has discovered through the Ladder. A superhuman's reach ought exceed his grasp. Tactics Tenebro is a creation of tactics and overthought. He doesn't consider short term goals without fitting them to the big picture, using analysis and deduction at every step. Still honorable, ever-curious, while primarily a covert detective when the big picture demands moments of combat, Tenebro thrills to play out the role that is most useful to his goals: he'll give nothing away and feign powerlessness, overconfidence or naivete, hold back and lull opponents while studying them, misleading them, planting false information for goons to carry back to their masters. He prefers to meet honorable combatants on their own terms, matching weapon-element and observing gunslinger mentality though Tenebro is not limited by it. The honorable warrior can be more easily manipulated, after all, win or lose. Tenebro's goal is to be as underestimated as a grain of dust, until he can work his way through criminal organizations or the underworld that hides monsters and insert that grit in the cogs to break the whole works from within. Tenebro will escalate from flat-footed pretense with inobvious defenses through to full-on showy acrobatic martial artistry, but only use overt powers when he can conceal G.R.I.T. by MacGuyver ploys like 'improvised blaster', 'serum accidentally ingested', 'stolen power armor' or 'coincidentally possessed by extradimensional entity' from the MacGuffin for full on malleable altered shape, or if need be using his hypnotic mastery after the fight to edit memories. He's not too honorable for that. If Tenebro needs to be captured, he'll check his already inobvious sub-microscopic G.R.I.T. is concealed and disguised -- for example as the residue of the MacGuffin -- lest his captors probe their prisoners in their secret, inaccessible base. Escape, with the requisite drama, is just what a magician does. And if the villains are the kind that kill, Tenebro is not too honorable to escape after death, either. That can help manipulate villain reactions just fine. After all.. Quote "Tenebro exceeds your grasp."

He looks painful to be on the wrong side of, and a proper villain. And without Breakfall and with such a low Dex Roll, easier to knock over than take down. Not that that ever works. Just out of interest, why Scholar with Int 10, BG not especially scholarly (notwithstanding Hench U), and no numerical advantage with only three knowledge skills?