World of Freedom 3.2 - Whatever Comes To Mind

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catsi563
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by catsi563 »

good presence but the lack of intimidation would seem to preclude that smile :)
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by Davies »

Shock wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 7:26 pm Did Billy inherit Mom's scary smile?
Nope. They have Zane's superior smirk, instead.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by catsi563 »

thus the great deception persuasion and presence :lol: :lol:
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by RainOnTheSun »

Wow, a 45 point power array? Makes me wonder what Psyker marines stat out as if they can stand up to Billie.

Edit: Then again, it's not like they have to fight them one on one, or even five on one...
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by Davies »

RainOnTheSun wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:34 pm Wow, a 45 point power array? Makes me wonder what Psyker marines stat out as if they can stand up to Billie.
You may yet find out (he said ominously).

Tomorrow: Elisabeth Summers.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by Arkrite »

Davies wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:20 pm In adolescence, it became clear that Billie had also inherited Zane's psychic talents, and was given some training by Zane in the use of same. However, Zane was more involved in the training of several of his other proteges, leaving Billie to largely figure things out by herself (much as Zane himself had) and consequently developed those talents in very different directions.
Darn it Zane, you had one job: Be better than your parents.

Davies wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:20 pm They went to work as an operative for their father's old enemy Savant (who was making a show of penitence)
I love to think that Savant spent ages waiting for Zane to spring back to life to pull of this ephemeral evil plan to destroy the earth.
Any minute now. ;~)


Shock wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 2:09 pm Zane made it to 65? I'll bet he was surprised :D
I'm pretty sure he was planning on living forever. ;~)

65 is pretty good for a guy who's past his physical prime, tends to antagonize people, seems to be in the middle of trouble... and probably has a large number of people who'd want him dead.

Funny part for me is I'm more curious to know if he opened up his own school before the end there.
Considering how much his time at Claremont meant to him I often wondered if he'd go full circle and open a school when he was done doing the hero thing. Who knows. Always a possibility.

Shock wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 7:26 pm Did Billy inherit Mom's scary smile?
Oh god, I hope having Zane as a father wasn't that traumatizing ;~)
Davies wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 7:43 pm Nope. They have Zane's superior smirk, instead.
The poor child.
We do tend to turn into our parents, don't we?
catsi563 wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 7:49 pm thus the great deception persuasion and presence :lol: :lol:
If she's anything like her father she'll fail every persuasion roll in spite of the amazing stats :lol:



Billie seems like a fun cross of Toxic's hard to hurt physicality and Zane's mental tricks. Which can be a very expensive setup.
Curious to see how things go for her and the rest of the reborn heroes.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by Davies »

Arkrite wrote: Sat Mar 16, 2019 2:29 am I'm pretty sure he was planning on living forever. ;~)

65 is pretty good for a guy who's past his physical prime, tends to antagonize people, seems to be in the middle of trouble... and probably has a large number of people who'd want him dead.
I am deliberately leaving the exact circumstances of Zane's death for you to describe.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by Davies »

Elisabeth Summers

Image

"My name is Elisabeth Summers, and this is my home. You are not welcome here. Begone."
-- spoken to more than one supernatural threat


Born sometime in 1968 and raised in a New York orphanage, the girl who would grow up to be known as Elisabeth Summers was likely assigned that family name as a way of paying tribute to one of the orphanage's major financial benefactors, Duncan Summers. Elisabeth is aware of this, but doesn't assign any particular meaning to it; she never met Duncan Summers in her first life and now never will, and the vague resemblance between their features doesn't necessarily mean anything.

She attended a vocational school to train her as a nanny, and chanced to be hired as such by Gloria Andrews Butler's business manager to serve as a nanny for the woman's six-year old nephew, Jonathan. So it came to pass that she moved from New York to Andrewsville, Maine, and took up residence in the House of Shadows. Within a few days of that, she was meeting (and dating) vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, witches, serial killers, and time traveling versions of all of the above. She met all this with a ridiculously calm demeanor and a determination to protect the people in her charge -- which gradually grew from Jonathan to the entire Andrews-Butler family, and anyone who happened to be resident in the House.

The exact source of Elisabeth's abilities to withstand more or less anything that the universe throws at her and see through supernatural deception is unknown. She believes that the Shadows for which the house is named require and will create a balancing force of light to ensure that they can persist, and that she has, for good or ill, been invested with that force. Other theories have been advanced by various people, most notably Harry Angell (who believes that his ex-girlfriend is 'just too damn stubborn') but Elisabeth isn't inclined to believe them. The truth is something she would very much like to know.

The House of Shadows' transition from the twentieth century to the thirty-third changed Elisabeth's role only slightly, as it stripped away many of the social advantages that the Andrews-Butler family enjoyed. As Elisabeth was able to quickly learn the local language, she found herself acting as a liaison between Gloria and a world that the mistress of the house neither understands nor admires. Gloria makes a great show of resenting this, but there are those who believe that Gloria secretly respects Elisabeth a great deal.

It should be understood that Gloria's 'immunity' only functions when she takes no direct action against an opponent. Talking to them is acceptable, but anything more than this will leave her as unprotected as any other young woman would be.

Elisabeth Summers -- PL 6

Abilities: STR 0 | STA 3 | AGL 1 | DEX 0 | FGT 0 | INT 1 | AWE 3 | PRE 3
Powers:
Innocence:
Immunity 120 (Fortitude, Toughness, Will), Passive, Subtle - 61 points
Truth: Senses 2 (vision counters illusion and invisbility) - 4 points
Advantages: Animal Empathy, Attractive, Fearless, Language (Mugei).
Skills: Expertise: Magic 4 (+5), Insight 8 (+11), Perception 6 (+9), Persuasion 4 (+7), Treatment 4 (+5).
Offense: Initiative +1, Unarmed +0 (Close Damage 0)
Defense: Dodge 5, Parry 4, Fortitude 6, Toughness 3, Will 6
Totals: Abilities 22 + Powers 65 + Advantages 4 + Skills 13 + Defenses 14 = 118 points
Complications: Responsibility--Motivation. Extreme Weirdness Magnet. Friends. Wishes to Learn Her Secret Origin.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by Davies »

It recently occurred to me that the Liberty League was missing versions of a number of Golden Age archetypes. Here's the first of my attempts to fill in those blanks.

Mentor

Image

Late in the year that some of Earth dubbed 1939, an individual whose profession might best be described as a 'private investigator' found himself following a lead on the whereabouts of an old enemy which brought him to the Sol system. Hallan the Golden, as he was known to those familiar with his exploits, experienced a strange sensation of familiarity, which some of Earth would have dubbed deja vu, as he passed the outer planets, the asteroid belt, and the dead world called Mars, and began to descend into the gravity well of the system's third planet. He dismissed the feeling as imaginary, and proceeded with his self-imposed mission.

(What Hallan the Golden did not then or ever realize was that, in an earlier iteration of history, he had been a frequent visitor to this planet from the year 1927 onward, in the company of other space-faring heroes. But in the current iteration of history, most of those heroes had either never been born or never become heroes, and that the Cosmic League which united them had never been formed. Perhaps because his origins long predated those of the other members of the Cosmic League, Hallan the Golden had continued to exist, and to pursue a lonely quest for justice, which now brought him to Earth for what he believed was the first time.)

He arrived in Freedom City and attempted to engage in a covert investigation, having no desire to expose the natives of this planet to the realities which lay beyond their fleecy skies. However, he was startled to learn that Freedom City had lately become a city where the wondrous was somewhat commonplace, and found his path crossing that of a number of the super-heroes of the day, most notably the Centurion (whom, again, he found strangely familiar) and the man called Midnight. He also found himself making friends of some of the residents of Freedom City, most notably another private investigator, Hank Baldwin, and his girlfriend Billie. It was Hank who gave Hallan the alias that he would use in his activities as a superhero, drawn from the science fiction magazines that the young man consumed with a passion.

When the Liberty League formed, Mentor hesitated to accept the invitation to join. Was it right for an alien to this world to take sides in a conflict between its natives? Doctor Tomorrow somehow guessed that he would have such reservations, and sought him out to reveal that he was aware of Mentor's extraterrestrial origins. The Doctor believed that Mentor's assistance would be crucial in several of the battles to come, but he refused to force Mentor into the association -- the invitation was his to accept or decline. When Bundists under the command of Dr. Geistmann attempted to kidnap the Baldwins on their wedding day, Mentor decided (after saving his friends) that events had clearly chosen his side for him, and attended the first meeting of the Liberty League.

Even so, he remained a somewhat reticent and secretive ally. A few of the other Leaguers guessed that he must be from another world, but never pressed him for details. When Johnny Rocket inquired as to his origins, Mentor stated that he'd been an archaeologist who discovered what he called the Cosmic Wand on one of his expeditions. It seems likely that this was the case, but that the expedition had been on some other planet, and many years ago. (Hallan the Golden once slipped and referred to himself as being older than some senior citizens he helped to save, suggesting that he was around eighty years of age in the mid 1940s.)

Much as with his close friend, the Envoy, Mentor chose to end his participation with the Liberty League soon after the war ended. He left Earth for the last time in 1946, and was never seen there again. Just as origins are something of a mystery, so too is his ultimate fate. The Star Knight A'lan Koor, who revealed Mentor's nature to the Freedom League not long after he joined, stated that the Star Knights had last had contact with him around 1958, when he'd conducted a raid into Grue-held territories from which he never returned. It seems likely that he met a truly grim end. However, a half-century later, another alien arrived on Earth bringing the Cosmic Wand with him. It has lately passed into the hands of San Diego native Kristy Tamura, who uses it under the alias of the Star-Spangled Girl.


Mentor (Hallan the Golden) -- PL 10

Abilities: STR 2 | STA 3 | AGL 2 | DEX 3 | FGT 6 | INT 7 | AWE 2 | PRE 2
Powers:
Cosmic Wand: Removable (-14 points)
Energy Shield: Sustained Protection 10, Affects Self and Others in Touch Range Burst Area; Sustained Immunity 10 (life support) - 40 points
Shooting Star: Flight 8; Movement 2 (space travel 2) - 20 points
Force Manipulation: Array (24 points)
  • Basic Blast: Ranged Damage 12, Dynamic - 25 points
  • Binding Shot: Ranged Concentration Affliction 8 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Damage or Sleight of Hand; Hindered and Vulnerable, Defenseless and Immobile), Extra Condition, Limited Degree, Dynamic - 2 points
  • Remote Lifting: Move Object 12, Dynamic - 2 points
  • Shaped Object: Moveable Create 8, Dynamic - 2 points
Advantages: Accurate Attack, Extraordinary Effort, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Inventor, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Ranged, Cover), Well-Informed.
Skills: Acrobatics 3 (+5), Athletics 6 (+8), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+9), Expertise: Science 8 (+15), Investigation 7 (+14), Perception 8 (+10), Ranged Combat: Cosmic Wand 5 (+8), Technology 8 (+15).
Offense: Initiative +6, Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 2), Basic Blast +8 (Ranged Damage 12), Binding Shot +8 (Ranged Affliction 8, Resisted by Dodge).
Defense: Dodge 7, Parry 6, Fortitude 7, Toughness 13/3, Will 9.
Totals: Abilities 54 + Powers 57 + Advantages 9 + Skills 24 + Defenses 16 = 160 points
Complications: Doing Good--Motivation. Secret (alien). Power Loss (Cosmic Wand must be allowed to recharge after heavy use).
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by Davies »

Optimus

Image

Drake Wilson decided by the time he turned twenty that simply managing and increasing the fortune amassed by his ancestors held little interest for him. He desired something more: an opportunity for adventure and excitement, both sadly lacking in the current pastimes that came so easily to him, and an opportunity to benefit those not nearly so lucky as him in ways other than giving money to charities. Inspired by the masked heroes of the pulp era of the Twenties and early Thirties, Drake created the costumed persona of Optimus, and set about thwarting criminals and rescuing innocents, while all the while serving as a public symbol of the perfectibility of Man.

He took every opportunity to speak to the public, either in person or through the press, in order to press his case that everyone out there could be just as remarkable and heroic as himself if they only put themselves in the correct frame of mind and applied themselves diligently to self-improvement, physically but also mentally and ethically. Needless to say, his charm and oratorical gifts (as well as his remarkable good looks) won him quite a following in the early days of his career, and if some of the rougher-edged cops and masked vigilantes were a bit dismissive of his publicity-seeking, well, no one could deny either his good intentions or his successes.

Optimus was one of the first heroes to answer the call for heroes that led to the formation of the Liberty League. He soon found himself fascinated by Doctor Tomorrow's apparent foreknowledge, and (to his mind) graciously took the role of a follower instead of becoming the team's leader, in order to better learn from his fellow man of action. He also developed something of a rivalry with the man called Midnight. The two men, despite the fact that they both had no powers other than superbly trained bodies and minds, found themselves frequently at odds over practically every issue that confronted the League.

When the Patriot and Siren joined the team, Optimus actively sought to cultivate relationships with them. On the one hand, his own governmental connections had informed him of the Patriot's mission as a government watchdog, and Optimus knew that the continued support of the government was absolutely necessary for the League's mission. His interest in the Siren was more personal; he found her to be the most fascinating woman he'd ever met. For her part, the Siren, aware that she might never see her Atlantean prince ever again, reciprocated Optimus' interest to a certain degree. By all accounts, their relationship was chaste, but fairly close regardless.

After the close of the war and the disappearance of Doctor Tomorrow, the Liberty League held a special meeting to determine who should be their new leader. The Patriot nominated Optimus as an alternative candidate to the Freedom Eagle, mostly so that there was another candidate rather the process acting as a confirmation of the Eagle's succession. Optimus was shocked and dismayed when he only garnered two votes for the chairmanship. It was only the first of a number of unpleasant events that would confront him over the next year, with the next coming when the Siren chose to end their relationship in order to marry Prince Thallor.

Nothing in Drake Wilson's life thus far had prepared him for this sort of disappointment. He responded by taking what he claimed was a leave of absence from the Liberty League and superheroics in general. With the exception of one episode in the early 1960s, this leave would last for the rest of his life. He went to work for the United Nations Organization, in hopes that he could do more good and work to prevent future conflicts in this way. These hopes would unfortunately be dashed over the next decade. Reportedly, the Patriot invited Wilson to take part in his Atomic Brigade, but Wilson declined while offering Simmons somewhat patronizing advice on how to go about running the organization.

Wilson watched the start of the Silver Age with confusion. He found himself increasingly and uncomfortably at odds with the people who should have been his peers, and also ever more certain with each passing year that the clock was ticking down towards nuclear war. He studied the nascent science of cliodynamics in hopes of finding a key to predict the future, and ultimately succeeded in doing just that. But the future he saw spelled it out that there would be a horrific, final war in the early 1980s. Something had to be done to prevent this. No, not something ... anything that could prevent it was acceptable, in the long run.

And so he set out to do just that. His manipulations caused a great many problems for a great many people, but the ultimate outcome, in 1979, was what he had been aiming for -- the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. With their forces tied up in the Graveyard of Empires, the Soviets would never have the wherewithal to launch an attack on the West. He'd done it. He'd saved the world. And he cheerfully punched the new numbers into his equation to see what the new future would hold.

When a group of unlikely heroes broke into his upstate New York home, seeking out the one who'd caused so much havoc, they found a wrecked computer and the man they were looking for, lying peacefully in his bed and dead of a drug overdose. A note was resting on his office desk. It read only, "I'm sorry."

Optimus -- PL 8

Abilities: STR 4 | STA 4 | AGL 4 | DEX 4 | FGT 8 | INT 5 | AWE 5 | PRE 5
Powers:
Striking Strength: Strength-based Damage 2 - 2 points
Equipment: Armored Costume (Protection 2), Throwing Discs (Ranged Damage 5), and 13 points of equipment as necessary.
Advantages: Agile Feint, Assessment, Attractive, Benefit 3 (Millionaire), Close Attack 2, Connected, Contacts, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative 2, Improved Trip, Inspire 2, Jack-of-all-Trades, Languages 3, Power Attack, Redirect, Uncanny Dodge, Well-Informed.
Skills: Acrobatics 6 (+10), Athletics 6 (+10), Deception 8 (+13), Expertise: High Society 6 (+11), Insight 7 (+12), Intimidation 7 (+12), Investigation 6 (+11), Perception 8 (+13), Persuasion 8 (+13), Ranged Combat: Throwing Discs 6 (+10), Sleight of Hand 6 (+10), Stealth 6 (+10), Technology 6 (+11), Treatment 6 (+11), Vehicles 6 (+10).
Offense: Initiative +12, Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 6), Throwing Discs +10 (Close Damage 5).
Defense: Dodge 10, Parry 10, Fortitude 8, Toughness 6/4, Will 7.
Totals: Abilities 78 + Powers 2 + Advantages 24 + Skills 46 + Defenses 14 = 164 points
Complications: Responsibility--Motivation. Fame. Old-Fashioned. Snobbish.

Optimus was created for the 5th and 6th edition Champions Universe, and finally described in The Golden Age of Champions, from which the first two paragraphs of the above background were taken.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by Davies »

The Death Waif

The image this time is a little gruesome, so I think that I'll link to it rather than posting it.

One "interesting" consequence of the gradual collapse of Cabot, Cunningham & Crowley, following the final fate of Lucius Cabot in 2007, was that various projects of the senior partners came to light, either because they were used in the firm's infighting, or because the resources to keep them under lock and key were no longer available. It's believed that the latter situation is the one that resulted in the being called the Death Waif being set free to walk the Earth.

Fragmentary records, collected by Meg Richie, indicate that the Death Waif is not native to Earth, but that she's not from elsewhere along the Crimson Coil either. Unusually, she's from a parallel universe, one that a certain former partner at the firm gained access to using technology obtained from something called the Murder League. If details about the transactions through which the Waif was purchased are hard to come by, information about the world from which she was obtained is positively obscure, but it seems reasonable to conclude that it had apparently undergone a zombie apocalypse.

Fortunately, the partner who'd obtained the Death Waif took steps to make sure that the infectious plague which was spread by that world's zombies wouldn't be spread by the one he'd imported, more out of a sense of self-preservation than any benevolence. While the Death Waif's teeth inflict wounds that are very slow to heal, and often leave terrible scars on those lucky enough to survive her attacks, her victims are in no danger of becoming zombies themselves. (Unless, of course, the virus mutates. Which they tend to do.)

The partner in question was killed in the opening weeks of Cunningham and Crowley's civil conflict, having made a false move and paid the ultimate price. The employees who owed him fealty were claimed by other players, and the cell which contained the Death Waif was left unattended. After it became clear to her that the regular meals to which she'd grown accustomed would no longer be coming, the Death Waif decided that it was time to leave. So she tore her way out of the cell, and discovered that it had been built under a nightclub (once owned by the late partner, now under new management) which was filled with people.

Wonderful people. Tasty people. And she hadn't eaten in days.

The screams drew the attention of Seven and the Bowman, who were on patrol nearby. While Bowman took care of evacuating the civilians, Seven confronted the Death Waif. She was startled by the toughness that the zombie-creature possessed, but her magic allowed her to prevail and capture it. As the Shining Shackles of Sirrion closed around the creature's hands and feet, Seven wondered aloud what she ought to do next. After all, it wasn't as though she could turn over a mindless zombie to the police, so perhaps she should just --

"Who's a mindless zombie?" asked the Death Waif.

Well. That was a different wrinkle. It soon became apparent that the Death Waif was clearly aware of her actions, and under those circumstances (and despite Bowman's not-too-subtle hints that it would probably be a good idea if they destroyed her anyway) Seven felt obligated to turn the creature over to the authorities. Unfortunately, despite precautions, she managed to escape from captivity and escape into the night.

While cognizant of her actions, the Death Waif seems to find it impossible to understand why anyone would try to stop her from eating people. It's not that she doesn't understand that people don't like to be eaten, it's more that she can't understand why anyone other than the people being eaten would object to it. Self-defense is one thing, but sticking your neck out for anyone else? That is just plain crazy, and the persistence of Seven and other superheroes in doing so, and thus stopping her from getting her meals, really annoys her. (Interestingly, one of Seven's auric examinations of the Waif suggested that her attitude towards such matters predates her transformation into one of the hungry dead.)

The Death Waif is unlikely to cooperate with other villains, unless they're obviously non-organic and thus non-food, or unless she's being controlled in some manner, as when Baron Samedi used subtle hypnosis to compel her to assist him. In addition to being the premiere member of Seven's rogue's gallery, she also crossed paths with the Next Gen and the Alterniteens. She seemed to recognize Elite, or possibly simply his fighting style, which suggests that the Murder League was quite active on her original world. Following Seven's departure from Earth, the responsibility for dealing with the Waif has passed to the current incarnation of the Next Gen, particularly Elflight -- who would prefer to deal with the monster in a more permanent manner, but respects the local laws on such matters.

It should be understood that, despite what she believes, the Death Waif doesn't need to eat flesh in order to survive. Her abilities weren't diminished in any way by her brief period of "starvation", and wouldn't be if she never ate another bite. (She also doesn't gain weight from "binging".) But she doesn't know that, and wouldn't believe it if she was told. Or perhaps more accurately, she just wouldn't care.

The Death Waif -- PL 11

Abilities: STR 12/10 | STA -- | AGL 3 | DEX 2 | FGT 8 | INT 0 | AWE 2 | PRE 1
Powers:
Fearsome Presence:
Perception (Visual) Area Affliction 6 (Resisted and Overcome by Will; Impaired, Disabled, Paralyzed), Selective, Subtle, Intimidation Check Required (DC 15) - 14 points.
Rage: Enhanced Advantage (Fearless) and Enhanced Strength 2, Quirk (-1 to active defenses) - 4 points.
Teeth: Strength-based Damage 2, Incurable, Quirk (not versus force fields or hard armor) - 2 points.
Undead: Immortality 11; Immunity 30 (Fortitude); Protection 12, Impervious 10; Regeneration 10; Senses 2 (darkvision) - 84 points.
Advantages: Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Power Attack.
Skills: Athletics 4 (+16/+14), Insight 8 (+10), Intimidation 12 (+13), Perception 6 (+8), Stealth 6 (+9).
Offense: Initiative +7; Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 10, 12 with Rage), Teeth +8 (Close Damage 12, 14 with Rage).
Defense: Dodge 7, Parry 8, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 12, Will 8.
Totals: Abilities 42 + Powers 104 + Advantages 4 + Skills 18 + Defenses 10=178 points
Complications: Hunger--Motivation. Monstrous Appearance. Psychopath. Unimaginative.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by Davies »

Ariel

Her self-image/past life's appearance:
Image

Her current life's appearance:
Image

Elsewhere in the multiverse, there is a land ruled by a magic-wielding aristocratic elite, who reign over a largely non-magical peasantry. Rossandra Colleyne was the heir to one of the larger and wealthier regions of this land, and her family had arranged her engagement to one of the younger heirs of their sovereign. Rossandra had no romantic ideals about this relationship; it was a political match, to be set aside if a better situation ever arose for either party. However, at the start of her final year at the Grand Academy where all magic-users were trained in the use of their powers, she was somewhat startled to learn that her fiance had lately been seen in the company of a younger woman hailed as a magical prodigy who had arisen from the commons. This seemed uncharacteristic of him, and Rossandra resolved to discover what was afoot.

The very day after she made that resolution, however, she found herself confronted by her fiance and a number of members of the faculty, who accused her of sponsoring a campaign of bullying against the aforementioned magical prodigy. Rossandra found this bewildering, since she had only just learned of her so-called rival's existence the previous day, and yet she was now supposed to have been scheming against her for months. In order to establish her innocence, she agreed to drink what she was told was a truth potion ... which turned out to be an extremely lethal poison. Her final thought was a confused protest that her life was coming to an end before she had ever managed to do anything.

She awoke sometime later in an unfamiliar room, arose from an unfamiliar bed, and stumbled in front of an unfamiliar mirror -- in which she saw a face that was not only unfamiliar, but decidedly male. Forcing herself to remain calm, she soon discovered that she was occupying the body of a fifteen year old boy named Kei Kuruma, an person of no particular social standing or wealth, who lived in a place called Freedom City, where beings of power greater than the most legendary magic-user were either paraded as heroes or scorned as villains, but definitely didn't rule. Rossandra was even more confused by what she learned about the history and society of this place, but reminded herself that she was a visitor here, and should not expect every place to resemble her beloved Gallantri ... to which she hoped to return, shortly.

Rossandra's only real asset in this situation was that she retained her magical powers. She spent what was left of Kei's final year of middle school trying to learn as much as she could about the local forms of magic, which was, unfortunately, very little. However, she did manage to discover a rumor that the best place for someone who wanted to learn magic was at the Claremont Academy, and persuaded Kei's parents to arrange for an interview with one of that school's recruiters. Once she was alone with the recruiter, she completely unburdened herself, revealing everything about herself. The recruiter was initially inclined to believe that Kei was just suffering from delusions brought on by a case of gender dysphoria, but 'his' magic was clearly a genuine super power, and so it was agreed that 'he' would start school at Claremont, where the truth of the situation could be revealed.

As it happened, the headmaster had an acquaintance who had considerable familiarity with souls and travel between worlds. Zalman carefully examined the psyche of this young person and came to three conclusions. First, there was a human soul foreign to the Tellurian within this body, in addition to that which should have been there. Second, the soul of Kei Kuruma was in a state of slumber that not even Zalman could end. Thirdly, while it would be possible to expel the foreign soul, that would not awaken the body's native soul, and instead send the body into a degenerative coma. The best thing to do would be to allow Rossandra the use of Kei's body until a way could be found to revive him, along with a way to return Rossandra to her own world.

Rossandra agreed to this condition, and is being educated in the use of her powers by the elderly Lilian Vervain, whose elemental witchcraft is the closest match to the similarly elemental tradition that she practices. Under her tutelage, Rossandra has learned that she actually has magic beyond her family's mastery of the wind. The magic of the heart, which she also possesses, is largely derided by members of her class, but she believes that she must take up every possible advantage if she wants to survive in this world and return to her own. And Lilian has assured her that heart is a greater power than those who raised her realize.

While she would prefer to dress in fashions like those she knew before, Rossandra realizes that she must keep her 'true self' a secret, as she does not want Kei's parents to worry about their son. (She has sworn to protect him, and her given oath is sacrosanct.) Thus, she dresses in men's attire which better suits her body. Likewise, despite being attracted to a number of people she has encountered at Claremont, she avoids intimate relationships on the basis that it would be wrong to do that with Kei's body, as well as the fact that she hopes to leave this world soon and does not want to leave any broken hearts behind her. In all things, she is guided by her sense of a noble's obligations to do right by others unless those others seek to do wrong.

She will be utterly horrified when she learns that her rival has started a revolution, and now leads a reign of terror ...

Ariel -- PL 8

Abilities: STR 0 | STA 0 | AGL 1 | DEX 3 | FGT 4 | INT 1 | AWE 3 | PRE 3
Powers:
Heart Magic: Mind Reading 8, Limited to emotions - 8 points.
Mystic Awareness: Senses 4 (Mystic Awareness, Acute, Analytical, Radius) - 4 points.
Wind Magic: Array (16 points)
  • Lifting Winds: Move Object 8 - 16 points.
  • Whispering Wind: Communication 3 (auditory, air), Subtle - 1 point.
  • Wind Burst: Ranged Burst Area Affliction 5 (Resisted and Overcome by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated) - 1 point.
  • Wind Lash: Ranged Damage 8 - 1 point.
Wind-Riding: Linked Flight 6 and Sustained Protection 10 - 22 points
Advantages: Accurate Attack, Improved Initiative, Language 1*, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5, Trance.
Skills: Expertise: Magic 6 (+7), Insight 6 (+9), Intimidation 4 (+7), Perception 4 (+7), Persuasion 4 (+7).
Offense: Initiative +5, Unarmed +4 (Close Damage 0), Wind Lash +8 (Ranged Damage 8), Wind Burst -- (Ranged Burst Area Fortitude 5).
Defense: Dodge 6, Parry 5, Fortitude 4, Toughness 10/0, Will 8.
Totals: Abilities 30 + Powers 53 + Advantages 10 + Skills 12 + Defenses 15 = 120 points
Complications: Acceptance--Motivation. Noblesse Oblige. Secrets.

* Ariel actually speaks a number of languages that exist only in her own world, but as she's unlikely to put them to use in adventures in Freedom City, she spends only 1 rank on the Language advantage for fluency in Gallan, her native language.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by Davies »

I happened to be reading the Super Friends comic that guest-starred the original Black Orchid, and got a bit inspired. Other influences include Ethan Hunt and Marvel's Paladin character, as well as some that should be obvious.

Templar

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Very little is known about the individual who operates under the alias Templar. Since 2012, he has been an active crime fighter with no permanent base of operations, occasionally working with other superheroes but never making any long-term affiliations or partnerships. He generally assumes a deep cover identity within an organization that he somehow discovers will be threatened by a criminal organization, then emerges from that identity to defeat the criminals, using powers that vary depending on the situation. (From comments he has made, it seems fairly likely that most of these discoveries are made by infiltrating criminal organizations using other false identities.) He invariably abandons his cover identity after an operation.

Templar frequently demonstrates a rather sarcastic, wise-cracking personality, though he usually abandons such witticisms when civilian lives are in jeopardy. He also has a set of personal eccentricities more befitting a gentleman burglar than a superhero, occasionally sending announcements of his intentions to organizations that he plans to infiltrate, and leaving replica Templar crosses on the unconscious bodies of his opponents to mark his victories. He also engages in activities that disconcert more ethically-minded heroes, such as robbing the ill-gotten gains of the criminals he defeats and only occasionally donating them to charity rather than keeping them for his own purposes.

The exact nature of his powers is as mysterious as every other aspect of his origin. He was once scanned with a mutant detecting device by agents of GENOCIDE, which indicated that he was a mutant. During that episode, however, he demonstrated that he had access to technology which could either give false positive results to that detector or completely block its scan. The other superhero with whom he's worked most often, Dr. Sane, believes that Templar's abilities are at least partially technological in nature, but isn't willing to speculate (out loud) whether he has innate powers in addition to those devices.

Templar's most famous adventure to date involved infiltrating the minions of the Children of the Night -- Dracula, Herald Sisyphus, the Oblivion Knight and Ultimaid -- while posing as a zombie. He was able to discover their plan -- to cause the Yellowstone Caldera to cause a supervolcano eruption to banish the sun, cause global despair, make the world into an ideal capital for the Terminus, and execute Superior -- and alert various other superheroes, who barely prevented the plan's success in October of 2016. Following this episode, he and Dr. Sane worked together to ensure that the Joint Superteam Alliance's intelligence gathering network had not been compromised by Ultimaid following her defection. Despite this, he has left no means for the Freedom League or any other organization to contact him, stating "Don't call me, I'll call you."

In at least one known future timeline, Templar will be responsible for rescuing the girl later known as Carla Zane from Scylla's robotic factory in 2018.

Templar -- PL 11

Abilities: STR 11/8 | STA 8 | AGL 4 | DEX 4 | FGT 8 | INT 3 | AWE 2 | PRE 2

Powers*:
"I Held My Breath": Immunity 10 (life support) * 10 points
Master of Surprise: Variable 4 (powers that haven't been used before), Continuous * 32 points
"Nice Try, Zane": Immunity 20 (Mental Powers) * 20 points
"Sorry, Didn't Hurt": Impervious Protection 6 * 12 points
"Talent, Pure Talent": Morph 2 (Other People), Continuous, Deception Check Required (DC 12), Removable (–1 point), Standard Action * 5 points
"Yes, Actually, I Can Fly, Thanks For Asking": Flight 8, Subtle * 17 points
"You Probably Shouldn't Have Done That": Enhanced Advantage 3 (Close Attack 3); Enhanced Strength 3; Enhanced Strength 3, Limited to lifting * 12 points

* Any or all of these may be Removable Devices, except for "Talent, Pure Talent", which already is.

Advantages:
Close Attack 3, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Ultimate Skill (Deception), Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Deception 8 (+10), Expertise: Streetwise 8 (+11), Insight 6 (+8), Investigation 6 (+9), Perception 6 (+8), Ranged Combat: Throwing 4 (+8), Technology 4 (+7), Treatment 4 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +11 (Close Damage 11, Crit 19-20)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 8, Fortitude 13, Toughness 14, Will 7.

Totals: Abilities 78 + Powers 108 + Advantages 6 + Skills 23 + Defenses 14 = 229 points

Complications:
Justice--Motivation. Mysterious and Enigmatic. Smites The Ungodly (he usually arranges to steal from the criminals he helps to thwart). Trademark (sends calling card when possible, but always leaves a Templar cross draped around the neck of a defeated villain).
Last edited by Davies on Sat Nov 02, 2019 8:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - The Sentinels (updated)! Meta-4! The Algernon Files

Post by Davies »

Johnny Rocket

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Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy. -- F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Johnny Wade (b. 1921) loved cars from the moment he first saw one. As a teenager in Freedom City, he became a skilled mechanic with dreams of opening up a garage of his own eventually -- dreams that were cut short unexpectedly. Johnny was driving -- dangerously, as he often did -- along Bayview Heights when a big truck came barreling the other way. Both vehicles crashed, spilling the experimental rocket fuel the truck carried. Soaked in chemicals and choking for air, Johnny managed to pull himself from the wreckage. There was a spark and a ball of fire blossomed from the fuel tank . . . in slow motion.

Running from the blast as fast as he could, Johnny Wade found himself well over a mile away before the blast rose into the sky and the dull boom caught up with him. He initially allowed the criminals to believe he'd been killed, following the other car at the scene to their hideout, where he used his new super-speed to apprehend them. The crooks heard the "mystery man" call himself 'Johnny' and one said, "He moved like a rocket!" The Freedom City press quickly joined the two up and headlines wondered about this new hero "Johnny Rocket."

Johnny responded to the President's call for heroes to join the Liberty League and was the League's youngest official member (second-youngest after the team's "mascot," Bowman's junior partner Arrow). He fought alongside his teammates and quickly earned a reputation for "moving faster than he can think," as Dr. Tomorrow once put it. More than once, the Liberty League hauled Johnny's fat out a fire when he ended up in some Nazi deathtrap or the like. Still, exasperating as his exploits sometimes were, the Leaguer's considered Johnny Rocket a true hero and friend.
Johnny's powers began to fade in 1951, and he found himself retired from superheroics well before the Liberty League disbanded, with both events nearly breaking his heart. His one consolation was the loving relationship he had with his girlfriend, Mina Lampert, who'd been his partner and confidante from nearly the start of his career. They married in in 1953, and Johnny, no longer "forced" to divide his time between his work as a mechanic and thrilling heroics, soon found himself recognized for his skills and promoted to the position of shop manager. His son, Jacob., was born in 1958. By late 1960, he'd inherited the ownership of the shop when its original owner passed away, having never married or had children of his own. (Years later, Johnny would suspect that his benefactor had been a closeted gay man.)

In 1961, Johnny attended a university lecture about the properties of rocket fuels, somewhat tickled to be learning about the formula that had given him his powers, now that it was declassified. The discussion moved on to improved versions of that formula, and that was when yet another group of crooks in the audience attempted to steal the sample of rocket fuel that had been brought to the demonstration. Retired though he was, Johnny wasn't about to let something like that slide, and managed to knock out or otherwise incapacitate most of the robbers. Panicking, the gang's leader threw the volatile substance at Johnny ... and as it splashed against him, something not all that surprising happened: his powers returned, and in fact were enhanced beyond what they'd allowed him to do in his youth.

Johnny Rocket was back, though his second heroic career demonstrated a bit more caution and forethought than he'd ever shown in the Golden Age. When he finally joined the Freedom League in 1964, he found himself serving as a respected elder in the superheroic community, which amused both him and his fellows from the Liberty League, but was still a responsibility he tried to tried to shoulder. As a business owner, he had a much more conservative viewpoint than the Centurion or Lady Liberty, though not nearly as much as the Raven, and honestly did not understand the counterculture of the time nor try to do so.

That caused him a fair amount of heartbreak in the years to follow. He and Mina made the joint decision not to tell their son about his father's secret identity until he either turned fifteen or demonstrated super-powers of his own. The latter never happened, but by 1973, Jacob was fairly alienated from his father, in part because of Johnny's frequent unexplained absences, and in part because of the tenor of the times. Learning that his father was a superhero worsened matters; while Jacob never even considered selling out his father's secret identity, he didn't have much respect for someone he viewed as a puppet of an increasingly corrupt establishment, either.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Mina became seriously ill in 1977. It would later be revealed that she was being poisoned by Johnny's enemy Nurse Wretched, but at the time, Johnny found himself horribly afraid that exposure to his own chemically-altered physiology might be what was killing his beloved wife. He went on a series of long adventures to find a cure for Mina's condition, but never found the panacea he was seeking. When his wife passed away, in 1979, he was on the other side of the world, instead of at her side. Jacob proceeded to lay into his father at her funeral, before leaving Freedom City to move to nearby Bedlam.

Even without these personal tragedies, however, it's likely that Johnny's career would have come to an end sometime in the 1980s. It finally happened in 1982, after he suffered a major heart attack while working a case. He was told, in no uncertain terms, that if he kept trying to fight crime like a man in his 20s, he would be dead within a few years, if not sooner. Horribly depressed, he donated his costume to a museum, and retired as both a superhero and a mechanic, passing control of the business on to his employees ... who, within a few years, sold it to a chain.

It wasn't until after the Terminus Invasion -- during which he saved a number of his fellow senior citizens without using his powers -- that things started to look up for him. Conscious of how the world had had a very narrow escape, Jacob finally reached out to his father and introduced him to his daughter-in-law and twelve year old grandson. While the relationship between the two men was never exactly cordial, they were able to get along for young Johnny's sake, and the boy spent a lot of time in Freedom City with his grandfather ... as he did when he was seventeen, and an old enemy sought old Johnny out. Everyone knows what happened next.

Johnny served as a mentor to the younger Johnny Rocket, and unreservedly accepted him when he came out, as well. (Jacob was less thrilled by this development; he's not exactly the most progressive individual, though he's made it clear that he does love his son and has a great relationship with his granddaughter, as well.) But no matter how fast you might be, old age catches up with everyone, and Johnny Wade Sr. finally passed away in 2012. He was ostensibly buried beside his wife, though in fact his mortal remains were taken into custody by the Burial Society of Velella,

Johnny Rocket -- PL 9/10

Abilities: STR 1 | STA 2 | AGL 3 | DEX 4 | FGT 6 | INT 1 | AWE 1 | PRE 2

Powers (1940-1951):
Super-Speed: Enhanced Advantages 24 (Agile Feint, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Improved Initiative 8, Instant Up, Move-by Action), Enhanced Dodge 8; Enhanced Parry 8; Movement 3 (Wall-crawling, Water Walking, Limited to while moving); Quickness 8; Speed 10 (2000 MPH) - 61 points
Super-Speed Fighting: Array (24 points)
  • Arm-Spinning Tornado: Cone Area 2 Move Object 8, Limited to pushing away - 24 points
  • Fast Attack: Strength-based Burst Area Selective Damage 8 (includes Strength 1) - 1 point
  • Flurry of Blows: Strength-based Multiattack Damage 8 (includes Strength 1) - 1 point


Powers (1961-1982):
Super-Speed: Enhanced Advantages 28 (Agile Feint, Close Attack 2, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Improved Initiative 10, Instant Up, Move-by Action; Quirk: Close Attack limited to foes with a lower Initiative total); Enhanced Dodge 10; Enhanced Parry 10; Movement 3 (Wall-crawling, Water Walking, Limited to while moving); Quickness 10; Speed 13 (16000 MPH) - 73 points
Super-Speed Fighting: Array (24 points)
  • Arm-Spinning Tornado: Cone Area 2 Move Object 8, Limited to pushing away - 24 points
  • Fast Attack: Strength-based Burst Area Selective Damage 8 (includes Strength 2) - 1 point
  • Flurry of Blows: Strength-based Multiattack Damage 8 (includes Strength 2) - 1 point


Advantages:
Agile Feint,, Close Attack 2/4, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Improved Initiative 8/10, Instant Up, Move-by Action, Taunt.

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+7), Deception 6 (+8), Expertise: Current Events 4 (+5), Expertise: Mechanic 6 (+7), Expertise: Popular Culture 4 (+5), Investigate 8 (+9), Perception 6 (+7), Technology 6 (+7), Vehicles 6 (+10).

Offense:
Initiative +43/35, Unarmed +10/+8 (Close Damage 1), Arm Spinning -- (Cone Area 2 Move Object 8), Fast Attack -- (Burst Area Selective Damage 8), Flurry of Blows +10/+8 (Multiattack Damage 8).

Defense:
Dodge 16/14/6, Parry 16/14/6, Fortitude 6, Toughness 4/2, Will 5.

Totals: Abilities 40 + Powers 87/99 + Advantages 3 + Skills 25 + Defenses 11=166/178 points

Complications (1940-1951):
Thrills--Motivation. Impulsive. Secret Identity.

Complications (1961-1982):
Responsibility--Motivation. Family. Increasingly Out-of-Touch. Secret Identity.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Whatever Comes To Mind

Post by FuzzyBoots »

I find myself wondering if Optimus's final apology was for all of the pain he caused getting a good future... or because he realized he was mistaken after all, and just made things worse. Probably the point.
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