Three posts put ahead of time here: two sample characters and a fight between heroes. This will be wordy, but I'm going to try to explain some of what's going in my mind as I roll up the character, try to make some representative decisions, and try not to cheat. I don't have dice handy, but I do have a dice roller on my phone, so I'll use that.
Remember that my creative process is not your creative process. This is an example, but you do you.
Our First Hero
Here we go; please forgive any sexism, racism, age-ism and so forth because this are my default assumptions (like, the character will start as a white cis straight male because, well, I am, but might not stay that way).
Origin
Origin first, rolling 2d6 and looking on the chart on page 56: 3+2=5. Transformed. So I get to add +2 to something at the end.
There's so much thinking and inventing that goes on as I create a character that knowing I have an option at the end to change things is useful...but you could always roll for Origin as the step before finalization.
Attributes
Now some levels for attributes:
| Attribute | Roll | Level | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prowess | 2+1=3 | 2 | (He's not a martial artist at this point, anyway.) |
| Coordination | 6+5=11 | 7 | A power for determination and stunting purposes |
| Strength | 5+1=6 | 4 | Fair |
| Intellect | 2+4=6 | 4 | Fair |
| Awareness | 2+5=7 | 5 | Good |
| Willpower | 4+4=8 | 5 | Good |
I'm going to wait until I know more before I decide to what will get +2, or if I trade two attributes. (For example, if all the powers attack with Prowess or Willpower, then I'll probably want to trade that 7 for the value for Prowess or Willpower). And all things being equal, I'd like high values for Strength (it affects Stamina and punching damage) and for Willpower (if a high Strength doesn't seem appropriate).
Number of powers
I roll 1+3=4 for 2 powers. (This guy is not looking like a Swiss Army Knife of supers.)
Powers
For this character, I'm going to roll powers and levels immediately, type-power-level, but if (say) I wanted to keep page flipping to a minimum, I might roll all the types first, then the powers, then the levels. Just be consistent. Anyway: onward.
The first power is...5+2=7, Offensive. Rolling on the offensive table, I get 4+2, or Dazzle. And another roll for level gives me 4+3=7, or Good (5).
The second power is 5+1=6, or Defensive. Well, I suppose that's good; the character's Stamina at this point will be 9 but that might change. A 9 Stamina is okay. 3+5 is Reflection, and the level is 3+6=9, or Great (6).
Offensively, that's not much. I mean, a punch does Fair damage, and the Reflection will work a lot of the time; the Dazzle is useful...
I can make the Dazzle a little more powerful by making it an Extra: Effect (Dazzle) of the Reflection. If the Dazzle is light, that gives some kind of light theme to the Reflection, too. And the high Coordination means he's likely to hit. I might not do it, though: it's just a kind of reflexive min-maxing, trying to find something interesting.
Normally by now I'd have an idea and I'd just pick the Specialties. But the character looks inchoate at this point, so I'll roll for Specialties and see if that sparks ideas.
Specialties
How many Specialties? Let's roll...6+2=8, for three Specialties.
We'll roll for three, and I might adjust them if I think one should be an expert or some idea strikes me.
| Roll | Specialty |
|---|---|
| Another 6+2 | Technology. Okay...so we'll probably go with a science-based excuse for the powers. (Don't have to; this character might be a mechanic with a magical gem, but we'll use science as the first approach.) |
| 3+6 | Military. So maybe a military experiment gone wrong, but tough to reconcile "soldier"with the low Prowess. |
| 4+5 | Power. |
Great (he said, sarcastically).
Maybe you're looking at it and going, "Oooh, I could do this" but you're not here. So let's prod the character around a bit.
Back to fiddling with powers
I really want to add another power, because Dazzle and Reflection together don't really spark anything for me. Mechanically, I'll add it as an extra to the Reflection, but I'll need a limit to pay for that extra.
(A limit can (a) pay for an extra on the same power, or add +2 to the power, or give back a point of determination when you're calculating determination.)
Ah: this seems sort of light-based powers in my mind, but of course I didn't roll anything as nice as Light Control. Let's say Stunning: the Dazzle flickers at a particular rate and causes the equivalent of epilepsy in the target, which can render them immobile (if it works). And because of that biological basis, it doesn't work on machines, or through machines. So it definitely doesn't work on robots or security guards watching on closed-circuit TV. That's (a) offensive and (b) ranged, taking advantage of that high Coordination.
Now the powers look like:
- Great (6) Reflection
- Extra: Great Dazzle
- Extra: Stunning (vs Strength) Limit: Not on or through machines.
That's not bad. But you know, I'm starting to get the idea of someone who turns into light. I think Alternate Form Light would be excellent... It also gives movement and immunity to physical harm. Ah. Just thought of a way to do that.
Instead of making Dazzle an extra of Reflection (which I was just doing for the points, really), let's use the rule on page 81 to substitute Alternate Form Energy (Light) for Reflection, and make it an extra of Dazzle. The powers now look like:
- Good (5) Dazzle
- Extra: Effect (Alternate Form: Light)
- Extra: Stunning Limit: Not on or through machines
As part of my points-mongering nature, it seems to me that the +2 should be added to the Dazzle. Because Extras are at the same level as the "parent" power*, it'll cascade down to the other powers that are extras:
- Incredible (7) Dazzle
- Extra: Effect (Alternate Form: Light)
- Extra: Stunning Limit: Not on or through machines
* Okay, not necessarily for the "pool" powers that let you choose the effects: Gadgets and Magic. But we're not dealing with either of those here.
Our hero so far
| NAME (unknown at this point) | Comments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Prowess | 2 | Poor: below average | |
| Coordination | 7 | Counts as a power for figuring determination | |
| Strength | 4 | Fair | |
| Intellect | 4 | Fair | |
| Awareness | 5 | Fair | |
| Willpower | 5 | Fair | |
| Stamina | 9 | Strength 4 plus Willpower 5 | |
| Specialties |
| ||
| Powers |
| ||
Determination
The high Coordination counts as one power, plus three more (Dazzle, Alternate Form, Stunning). Determination is 6 - 4 = 2.
Character Story
Now to think of a character...and I kind of like the idea that the character wants to be in light form...that's the default...and when a "regular person" lots of attention is spent keeping together; that's why the Prowess is low. He or she is thinking of keeping the body solid rather than fighting. I'd have to talk to the GM about whether the Dazzle and Stunning can be used in Alternate form: I think so, from the description, but some GMs are fussy and would say it's equivalent to being Phased. (I've run across that.) As I say, I think it's okay, but I'd talk to the GM to make sure that I don't, say, unleash the Stunning when the GM doesn't think it's appropriate.
So a soldier who was working as a technician on Yet Another Supersoldier program...or maybe an ex-soldier at a fusion power plant experiment. There's a problem with the equipment—I just re-watched Captain America: The First Avenger last night, so we'll say it was sabotage.
I kinda like the idea that the character is gay, forced out by don't ask, don't tell just before it was repealed, and then immediately hired as a civilian contractor. (Had the necessary skills and security clearance...) (Or am I channelling the Ray? I know so little about the character that I can't be sure.)
Okay, we'll gender-flip: the character is a woman. Still forced out. Been working on this project for a decade. They're getting close. (Nah, not a supersoldier project: a power supply the size of a box from Amazon that can power a block of Manhattan for a century. With that, man-portable energy weapons become possible, and there are civilian applications: Imagine three of them shipped to a disaster site, like Puerto Rico. Hell, we'll make her a Puerto Rican lesbian.)
Actually, we won't have her forced out by don't ask, don't tell (but mostly because I don't want to research it); we'll keep everything else, but she lost a hand. In energy form, she gives herself the hand back...but can't touch things; as a physical person, she's missing the hand.
As far as a name...Searchlight would be good, but because of how I envision the Stunning power working, call her Strobe.
Qualities
"Lady of Light" is a good epithet. I can tag it for almost anything to do with powers or dealing with the public.
"Scarred by the service." That's not bad: it reflects the hand, but the GM can also use it to compel inappropriate reactions to military personnel and the ever-popular flashback.
The same impulses that made her join the service will make her a hero. Rather than something wordy, we'll just say, "Has to help" is the third Quality.
The Final Result
| Strobe (Rosa Maria Quintero) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Prowess | 2 | ||
| Coordination | 7 | ||
| Strength | 4 | ||
| Intellect | 4 | ||
| Awareness | 5 | ||
| Willpower | 5 | ||
| Stamina | 9 | ||
| Determination | 2 | ||
| Specialties |
| ||
| Powers |
| ||
| Qualities |
| ||
The road not taken: Egomaniac
I might have made different decisions. If I had had my heart set on playing a mentalist character, I could have traded the Coordination with Willpower. The character's Stamina would be 11 instead of 9. Reflection could work very well as the sum totality of psychic power, or something. While Dazzle can work with mental powers, say I substituted Telekinesis for the Dazzle. This other character (call him Egomaniac, and we'll make him a villain) probably also needs another power, or an extra for Telekinesis...so I'm going to say ESP because I've suddenly thought of someone who makes tumblers move inside locks or triggers items inside things. He can stunt Telepathy or Mental Blast if need be, and he protects himself against her strobe effect by closing his eyes and using ESP to see. He's definitely got a Power skill, and I'm going to bump it to Expert, then give him the other Specialty of Stealth:
| Egomaniac (Norman Island) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Prowess | 2 | |
| Coordination | 5 | |
| Strength | 4 | |
| Intellect | 4 | |
| Awareness | 5 | |
| Willpower | 7 | |
| Stamina | 11 | Strength 4 plus Willpower 7) |
| Determination | * | |
| Specialties |
| |
| Powers |
Stunts Flight, Blast, Burst | |
| Qualities |
| |
I'm not crazy about those qualities, so they might change.
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