Pratfall - PL 9
Strength 4, Stamina 9, Agility 3, Dexterity 4, Fighting 9, Intellect 0, Awareness 2, Presence 5
Advantages
Daze (Deception), Improvised Weapon 3, Power Attack, Redirect, Skill Mastery: Deception, Takedown 2
Social Advantages: Fake Expert*, Fascinate (Expertise: Clowning), Set-up, Taunt, Teamwork
* (from Mecha and Manga) - You may have no idea what you’re doing, but other people don’t need to know that. You can make a Deception
check instead of using the chosen skill to fool fate itself that you know what you’re doing. For a number of rounds equal to your Presence modifier, the check seems to work as intended (if successful); you plug the leak in the cooling pipes, you get the malfunctioning spaceship moving again, or you activate the ancient relic that only descendants of Lord Badass can use. Even if you fail, if your check beat the Sense Motive check of any onlooker, they are convinced that you tried your best but the problem was out of your ability. You don’t actually achieve anything useful related to the skill you’re faking; the information you gain is not true, you only buy time to hopefully get out of the situation or for a real expert to solve the problem. Once the duration ends, the real situation reasserts itself, sometimes with calamitous consequences.
Skills
Acrobatics 7 (+10), Athletics 5 (+9), Close Combat: Unarmed/Improvised Weapons 2 (+11), Deception 10 (+15), Expertise (PRE): Clowning 6 (+11), Insight 6 (+8), Perception 6 (+8), Sleight of Hand 3 (+7), Stealth 5 (+8), Vehicles 1 (+5)
Powers
Ignore Gravity / Air Walk: Flight 1 (Speed: 4 miles/hour, 60 feet/round; Subtle: subtle; Quirk: prone condition causes you to fall)
. .
Comedic Scramble: Speed 2 (Alternate; Speed: 8 miles/hour, 120 feet/round)
Feature 2 (Props, Dimensional Pocket): Pratfall can produce various props from his pockets at will, noisemakers and sight gags, at GM discretion. He can also store up to Mass Rank 1 (100 lbs) in miscellaneous objects in his pockets and retrieve them at will from said pockets or from another location with a successful Sleight of Hand
Overcrank: Quickness 2 (Limited to Physical, 5x speed)
Slapstick Array
. .
Banana Peel (Linked Triggered Effect)
. . . .
Trip: Affliction 9 (Linked; 1st degree: Vulnerable, 2nd degree: Prone, DC 19; Alternate Resistance (Acrobatics / Agility), Subtle: subtle, Triggered: 1 use - Walk over it (avoid with Acrobatics); Instant Recovery, Limited Degree)
. . . .
... and Fall: Damage 8 (Linked; DC 23; Subtle: subtle, Triggered: 1 use - Walk over it (avoid with Acrobatics); Resistible: Acrobatics / Agility)
. .
Honking Big Mallet: Strength-based Damage 5 (DC 24; Dangerous 2, Insidious, Reach (melee) 2: 10 ft., Smashing)
. .
Laughing Gas Lapel Flower: Affliction 9 (1st degree: Fatigued, 2nd degree: Exhausted, Resisted by: Will, DC 18; Contagious, Insidious, Reach (melee): 5 ft.; Limited Degree)
. .
Mimed Objects: Create 9 (Volume: 500 cft., DC 19; Stationary, Subtle 2: invisible; Quirk: Always invisible - No Cover, Reduced Range: close)
Slapstick (Insidious, Subtle, Variable Descriptor 2: broad group - Improvised weapons / Unarmed) - Basically, it's the cartoon effect that the target may not realize they've been attacked and, even if they do realize it, they may not think it did anything. Mechanically, it's a DC 20 Perception or appropriate Detect for each.
Detect Merger (Tracking 2)
Offense
Initiative +3
Grab, +9 (DC Spec 14)
Throw, +4 (DC 19)
Unarmed, +11 (DC 19)
Improvised Weapons +11 (DC 21)
Honking Big Mallet: Strength-based Damage 5, +9 (DC 24)
Laughing Gas Lapel Flower: Affliction 8, +9 (DC Will 19)
Trip: Affliction 9, +9 (DC Acr 19)
... and Fall: Damage 8, +9 (DC Acr/Tou 23)
Languages
Native Language (English)
Defense
Dodge 9, Parry 9, Fortitude 11, Toughness 9, Will 7
Power Points
Abilities 72 + Powers 24 + Advantages 9 + Skills 17 (51 ranks) + Defenses 13 = 135
Background
Paul Stubbs was your everyday wage slave by day and a clown by night. Specifically, while his day job was as a minor faceless factotum in a large corporation, in his evenings, he donned the the greasepaint and moonlighted as a party clown named Pratfall in both Francisco, Bodega Bay (where he resided) and the surrounding area. On the day of The Merge, he felt little different at first... until that night, when he reached up to pull off the nose... and found that it wouldn't budge. He didn't panic, at least not immediately, but he quickly learned that none of it came off. He was no longer wearing a costume. That was his skin. That was his hair. That was his nose. His makeup and costume seem to be part of him and he's found the ability to pull items out of thin air. Moreover, something about his nature clouds the reactions of others. He can break a chair over a man's head and, unless people are looking closely, they don't even realize an attack was performed. Rather, it looks and feels like a harmless breakaway gag despite hitting with its full force.
He no longer works in an office. He's a full-time clown, gaining a reputation in his work with the relief efforts as displaced people and displaced geography adjusted to one another. Sometimes, a squeaky nose and a little seltzer down the pants was all that stood in the face of hysterical children and adults. His family has settled in Bay Shore, and Pratfall has found ample employment as people seem to have latched on to the familiar strangeness of clowns in the aftermath of this upheaval of their world. Thus far, he's simply using his ability to pull props out of nowhere to augment his regular party routine. But a part of him sings out to do something heroic... something funny in the name of justice.
Complications
- Relationship (wife and son) — Paul has a wife and a son in college when he fell. They support his calling even if they don't quite understand it.
- Prejudice (Clown) — Some people just really don't like clowns, and few people take them seriously. Since Paul can't change back anymore, he has little choice but to deal with how people react to his appearance. Complicating things, some of the known Mergers such as The Joker, Whiteface, and Great Clown Pagliacci have been besmirching the greasepaint. And that's not including rumors of something much darker, a demon known as Pennywise...
- Obsession (Clowning) — Whether it's the some aspect of the empowering event, a method of coping, or simply hidden depths, Paul is constantly cracking jokes and attempting gags. It can really wear on a person around him.
- Power Loss — Paul's powers sometimes desert him, particularly when he performs actions without a punchline.
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I think I got all of the math right, and all of the fiddly bits copied over (not everything renders nicely in Hero Lab).
As regards a shared background, I'm fine with the hometown angle as well.