Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Gavin de Beers NPC to help or hinder

SYSTEM: ICONS

Here's a relatively low-powered character with very little in the way of combat skills and some infinitely-abusable powers. I came up with him/her/it while thinking of a one-shot I'd like to run (more on that tomorrow). The character is a reason for the hook at the start, but since the secret is revealed at the end of the first scene or start of the second, it's not huge.

This is Gavin de Beers, professional bodyguard, hostage, and distraction. Through whatever mechanisms you have in your game, Gavin has ended up with two and a half actual superpowers.

Gavin can look like anyone. It takes time and requires either a skill roll or eating a part of the person with DNA or both (try imitating someone who has had a nose job and see that the skill roll is necessary). It takes ten minutes or more; the skill roll is not necessary if there's no alteration of the body; the DNA isn't really ever necessary, it just makes the skill roll easier or unnecessary.

He generally gets the physical characteristics of his original but rarely powers. (If the power is strictly physical, is visible, and Gavin has ingested the DNA, maybe. GM's call.)

Gavin's other main ability is duplication. Depending on the size of the person, Gavin can make three to eight duplicates. The duplicates are generally under his mental control, and can do the shapeshifting but not duplication. The duplicates are of Gavin at the time of the duplication. For time reasons, he prefers to shapeshift first and duplicate second.

Gavin can shapeshift so that his skin looks and feels like clothes...but he prefers not to do that. Hostages tend to have their clothes ripped and torn and if it's his skin...it hurts.

The shapeshifting comes with an ability to regenerate slowly and while thinking very hardabout it. Yes, he can heal, and no, he never goes into the field thinking that he will do that. If he's not conscious, it doesn't happen, so a gunshot to the chest kills him just like a normal person. While he's regenerating, he does need to keep rolling to keep the impersonation going; otherwise there tends to be a balding early thirties man sitting there healing.

One additional ability that is generally done as a stunt: if he has ingested the person's DNA, he can usually tell if the person has powers in the sense that they will "taste" different if they're super in some defined ways, like a mutation or a physical transformation. He can't tell what the powers are, he just knows they exist. On a good roll, he might be able to distinguish between expressed and latent powers.

Your use of Gavin depends on your needs, but by default, he works for a small agency.

Here's how he might look in ICONS for 35 points:

PRW CRD STR INT AWR WIL STA
4 3 3 3 4 5 8
Specialties
  • Military
  • Performance (Acting)
  • Weapons (Guns)
Powers
  • Fair (4) Transform (humanoids)
    • Limit: Preparation, Requires Roll (+2 to level from 2)
    • Extra: Effect Regeneration, Limit: Concentration
  • Good (5) Duplication
    • Extra: Mental Control
    • Limits: Preparation (pays for extra), level depends on current size (+2 to level from 3)
Qualities

As useful NPC:

  • Licensed bodyguard Gavin de Beers
  • Good threat assessment
  • You scratch my back, I scratch yours

As irritating NPC:

  • Licensed bodyguard Gavin de Beers
  • Don't get in my way
  • Revenge can be legal...or not illegal

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