JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Blaze! Blockbuster(s)! Lady Vic!

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JDRook
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JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Atomic Skull! Atrocitus! Aztek! Azrael

Post by JDRook »

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Azrael - PL 11

Strength 6/3, Stamina 3, Agility 8/5, Dexterity 5, Fighting 8, Intellect 2, Awareness 5, Presence 5

Advantages
Close Attack 2, Defensive Attack, Evasion, Improved Critical: Twin Swords: Strength-based Damage 4+2, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Close, Concealment), Quick Draw, Takedown

Skills
Acrobatics 5 (+13/+10), Athletics 8 (+14/+11), Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+10), Expertise: Current Events 7 (+9), Expertise: Streetwise 9 (+11), Insight 8 (+13), Intimidation 8 (+13), Investigation 8 (+10), Treatment 3 (+5), Vehicles 4 (+9)

Powers
Suit of Sorrows (Removable)
. . Armor: Protection 6 (+6 Toughness)
. . Enhancements: Enhanced Trait 13 (Traits: Agility +3 (+8), Strength +3 (+6), Advantages: Improved Initiative)
Swords of Sin and Salvation (Removable)
. . Swords of Sin and Salvation
. . . . Flaming Aura: Strength-based Damage 2 (Linked; DC 23; Split: 2 targets, Stacks with: Twin Swords: Strength-based Damage 4+2)
. . . . Twin Swords: Strength-based Damage 4+2 (Linked; [Stacking ranks: +2], DC 27, Advantages: Improved Critical; Split: 2 targets)

Offense
Initiative +12
Grab, +10 (DC Spec 16)
Throw, +5 (DC 21)
Twin Swords: Strength-based Damage 4+2, +10 (DC 27)
Unarmed, +12 (DC 21)

Complications
Cursed: The Suit of Sorrows slowly drives Michael insane.
Temper: The Suit of Sorrows makes its wearer more violent, often causing them to enter a berserker rage in combat.

Defense
Dodge 11, Parry 11, Fortitude 7, Toughness 9, Will 8

Power Points
Abilities 72 + Powers 22 + Advantages 8 + Skills 31 (62 ranks) + Defenses 13 = 146

Last of the A's (I realize that Azrael should actually come before Aztek alphabetically, but this is how their listed in the book), this Azrael is Michael Lane, the one active before 52 kicked in. A former marine trained by Gotham PD and part of experiments to create a backup Batman, Lane lost his son, wife, and siblings in tragic and (probably?) unrelated circumstances over the course of two years, which understandably messed him up and got him dismissed from GCPD.

After that, at some point Batman dies, and, well . . .
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The Order of Purity sets up Lane with the flaming Sword of Sin and the Suit of Sorrows, which always drives the user insane and only took 6 weeks with the one just before him. Lane does well enough with it to defeat Talia al Ghul who wanted the suit for Damian.

There's also a sidebar on John-Paul Valley, who is a previous Azrael best known for temporarily replacing Batman after Bane broke the Bat's spine. Valley seems to be the product of a similar but unrelated Sacred Order of Saint Dumas, trained and conditioned his whole life (not unlike Aztek) to be an assassin and enforcer for the Order. Mechanically, Valley and Lane are similar enough to use the same basic build, with Valley also having Technology 10 (+12) to cover his graduate studies in computer science, and a Split Personality Complication as a result of his psychological conditioning.

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Mechanically, Azrael is not too far off from the Crimefighter Archetype if you swap out the equipment and some Advantages and Skills for the Sword and Suit. The only glaring problem is no defined range options; with DEX 5 he's already reasonably competent with any ranged weapons, but if you have flaming swords, why dick around with guns? 8-)

Making a PL10 Azrael is a snap since this one is already undepointed for PL10 and the only thing making this one PL11 is the Sword. The easiest change would be to drop the Close Attack 2, bringing him down to PL10 both offensively and defensively and giving you 6p leftover so you can even add in Valley's Tech skills and still be under budget.

The swords bring up an interesting point (no pun intended) since a common build question is "how do you make a flaming sword?" Breaking up the swords and the flaming aspect into separate Linked attacks, may seem to make sense, but raises questions. Generally you can't "Link" two Damage Effects, although you can "stack" them and add their ranks, which is probably the intent here since that's how the DCs add up; stacking this way also allows you to not use or "turn off" the fire part. This structure also defines which Descriptor goes with which Damage, so being Immune to one but not the other is easy to resolve, but then it's unclear how it would work with tradeoff maneuvers or critical strikes. If I were GMing and a player brought me this Azrael, I'd probably simplify the swords to just be Str-Based Damage 6 with Split, allowing the Fire Descriptor at no charge but with the understanding that any hit that does more than Damage 10 (including power attacks and crits) is always on fire and considered Noticeable (effectively +1 Variable Desc, -1 Noticeable), allowing for stealthier attacks against weaker opponents but getting loud and flashy for the big fights.

There's a lot I'd change about this build: Dex is way too high for a melee fighter, as is Presence for primarily Intimidation, and I'd probably trim in other areas as well. What I'd probably do is put those extra points to the Sin and Salvation parts of the swords mentioned on a few of the wikis: they apparently make you remember past sins or tragedies, respectively, which I think would make for a good descriptor for a Vulnerable/Defenseless Affliction resisted by Will. Ideally it would be linked to the Sword Damage, but probably also with Fades to have it lose effectiveness with each iteration and also save points.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Atomic Skull! Atrocitus! Aztek! Azrael

Post by JDRook »

And that's the A's! I was really hoping to keep this down to roughly a letter a month, finishing up in 2022, but even that might be a bit optimistic.

But now comes some more fun stuff, so hopefully that will help me keep up the pace.

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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Bane & a Colony of Bats

Post by JDRook »

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Bane - PL 13

Strength 7/5, Stamina 7/5, Agility 7, Dexterity 7, Fighting 12, Intellect 8, Awareness 6, Presence 8

Advantages
Accurate Attack, All-out Attack, Assessment, Defensive Roll 3, Eidetic Memory, Improved Critical: Unarmed, Improved Hold, Languages 4, Leadership, Power Attack, Startle, Taunt

Skills
Acrobatics 6 (+13), Athletics 7 (+14), Close Combat: Unarmed 7 (+19), Deception 4 (+12), Expertise: Philosophy 2 (+10), Expertise: Sociology 2 (+10), Expertise: Theology 2 (+10), Insight 8 (+14), Intimidation 4 (+12), Perception 6 (+12), Persuasion 6 (+14)

Powers
Device (Removable)
. . Venom (Activation: Standard Action)
. . . . Enhanced Stamina 2 (+2 STA)
. . . . Enhanced Strength 2 (+2 STR)
. . . . Healing 6 (Limited: to Self)
. . . . Protection 1 (+1 Toughness)

Offense
Initiative +7
Grab, +12 (DC Spec 17)
Throw, +7 (DC 22)
Unarmed, +19 (DC 22)

Complications
Addiction: Although Bane has kicked the habit, Venom is highly addictive and he may go back to using the drug for its strength or healing effects as he has in the past. Withdrawal symptoms begin occurring 12 hours after the last use. Stats to the left of the slash (/) represent Bane’s abilities while using Venom.

Languages
Choose any 4 languages, Latin, Native Language, Persian, Spanish, Urdu

Defense
Dodge 15, Parry 15, Fortitude 13, Toughness 11/8, Will 10

Power Points
Abilities 116 + Powers 10 + Advantages 17 + Skills 27 (54 ranks) + Defenses 21 = 191

I won't go to much into Bane's history, since I know others can fill in the blanks, although I was impressed with one thing in the DCA bio. The classic moment of when Bane "broke the Bat" is probably the most well-known, but I liked the long arc of justice with Bane forced to live in a prison practically from birth, training his body and mind to superhuman levels and eventually going back and leading a revolution against the corrupt government that shaped his life.

If you place the Bane and Batman builds side by side, you can see how Bane was made to be on par and even occasionally surpass Batman in a few aspects, even with Bats being 100p ahead of him. Bane would probably make a better replacement Batman that Azrael, even without the Venom boost. Without the Venom Device, Bane is pretty close to an RtP PL12, hitting caps with unarmed combat and hard defenses.

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There a few mechanical issues. The Abilities totals don't match, and by process of elimination I would have to guess that at one point DEX was only 1 rank, or at least read as such, but since Bane has no DEX-skills or ranged attacks, it makes no mechanical difference.

The Healing (Self-Only) in the Venom Device is technically fine, but it would require a Standard Action every time he wanted to heal, and I don't know if that's part of the concept. At 6p, it would be simpler to just have Regen 5 for a point less, or if you did want to require that action, make it Regen 10 with a Concentration Flaw for the same cost and not require a Healing Check.

Bane also has Startle and Taunt which are kind of equal-opposites allowing Deception to use Intimidation combat effects and vice versa; since Bane has both of these skills at +12, it's hard to say whether there's any mechanical advantage, but it does offer an interesting flavour option where Bane can choose to be sneaky or scary in combat with equal ease.

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If you wanted to make a PL10 version of Bane based on this one, you could do a similar take where he's PL9 without Venom and hits caps when it floods his system.

Bane PL10 - PL 10

Strength 6, Stamina 6, Agility 6, Dexterity 1, Fighting 10, Intellect 7, Awareness 5, Presence 6

Advantages
Accurate Attack, All-out Attack, Assessment, Defensive Roll 3, Eidetic Memory, Improved Critical: Unarmed, Improved Hold, Languages 4, Leadership, Power Attack, Startle, Taunt

Skills
Acrobatics 4 (+10), Athletics 7 (+13), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+14), Deception 4 (+10), Expertise: Philosophy 2 (+9), Expertise: Sociology 2 (+9), Expertise: Theology 2 (+9), Insight 7 (+12), Intimidation 4 (+10), Perception 6 (+11), Persuasion 6 (+12)

Powers
Venom Device (Removable)
. . Venom (Activation: Standard Action)
. . . . Enhanced Stamina 2 (+2 STA)
. . . . Enhanced Strength 2 (+2 STR)
. . . . Healing: Regeneration 5 (Every 2 rounds)

Offense
Initiative +6
Grab, +10 (DC Spec 16)
Throw, +1 (DC 21)
Unarmed, +14 (DC 21)

Complications
Addiction: Although Bane has kicked the habit, Venom is highly addictive and he may go back to using the drug for its strength or healing effects as he has in the past. Withdrawal symptoms begin occurring 12 hours after the last use. Stats to the left of the slash (/) represent Bane’s abilities while using Venom.

Languages
Choose any 4 languages, Latin, Native Language, Persian, Spanish, Urdu

Defense
Dodge 11, Parry 11, Fortitude 11, Toughness 9/6, Will 8

Power Points
Abilities 86 + Powers 9 + Advantages 17 + Skills 24 (48 ranks) + Defenses 14 = 150
Last edited by JDRook on Mon Oct 12, 2020 3:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Atomic Skull! Atrocitus! Aztek! Azrael

Post by Woodclaw »

I run into the same problem with the healing/regen in 2e.
By all acvounts they should be the same, but they're built in such a way that it become hard to compare the effects.
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JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!

Post by JDRook »

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Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) - PL 8

Strength 1, Stamina 2, Agility 4, Dexterity 4, Fighting 8, Intellect 1, Awareness 3, Presence 3

Advantages
Agile Feint, Close Attack 5, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 6, Grabbing Finesse, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Set-up, Weapon Bind, Weapon Break

Skills
Acrobatics 8 (+12), Athletics 6 (+7), Deception 6 (+9), Insight 4 (+7), Intimidation 5 (+8), Investigation 7 (+8), Perception 5 (+8), Persuasion 6 (+9), Ranged Combat: Throw 7 (+11), Sleight of Hand 6 (+10), Stealth 8 (+12), Treatment 4 (+5), Vehicles 4 (+8)

Equipment
Armored Costume: Protection 2 (+2 Toughness)
Bo Staff: Strength-based Damage 2 (DC 18; Reach (melee): 5 ft.)
Flashlight
Grapnel Gun: Movement 1 (Swinging)
Mini-tracer
Restraints
Wireless Relay: Senses 1 (Communication Link: Oracle)

Utility Belt
Batarangs: Strength-based Damage 2 (DC 18; Increased Range: ranged)
Bolos: Affliction 4 (1st degree: Hindered, Vulnerable, 2nd degree: Immobile, Defenseless, DC 14; Alternate Resistance (Dodge), Extra Condition, Increased Range: ranged; Limited Degree)
Cutting Torch
. . Damage: Damage 1 (DC 16; Linked: Weaken: Weaken 1)
. . Weaken: Weaken 1 (Affects: Toughness, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 11)
Explosive Batarangs: Burst Area Damage 4 (DC 19; Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, DC 14, Increased Range: ranged)
Flash Bombs: Burst Area Affliction 3 (1st degree: Impaired, 2nd degree: Disabled, 3rd degree: Unaware, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 13; Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, DC 13, Increased Range: ranged)
Sleep Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 4 (1st degree: Fatigued, 2nd degree: Exhausted, 3rd degree: Asleep, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 14; Cloud Area: 15 feet radius sphere, DC 14, Increased Range: ranged)
Smoke Bombs: Cloud Area Concealment Attack 4 (All Visual Senses, DC 14; Cloud Area: 15 feet radius sphere, DC 14, Attack: Dodge)
Tear Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 3 (1st degree: Dazed, Impaired, 2nd degree: Stunned, Disabled, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 13; Cloud Area: 15 feet radius sphere, DC 13, Extra Condition, Increased Range: ranged)

Offense
Initiative +8
Batarangs: Strength-based Damage 2, +11 (DC 18)
Bo Staff: Strength-based Damage 2, +13 (DC 18)
Bolos: Affliction 4, +11 (DC Dog/Fort/Will 14)
Explosive Batarangs: Burst Area Damage 4 (DC 19)
Flash Bombs: Burst Area Affliction 3 (DC Fort 13)
Grab, +13 (DC Spec 14)
Sleep Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 4 (DC Fort 14)
Smoke Bombs: Cloud Area Concealment Attack 4 (DC Dog 14)
Tear Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 3 (DC Fort 13)
Throw, +11 (DC 16)
Unarmed, +13 (DC 16)

Complications
Inexperienced: Stephanie is still finding her place as a member of the Batman family, and has not fully integrated herself with the team. Her on-again, off-again romance with Tim Drake is also a source of conflict.

Defense
Dodge 11, Parry 11, Fortitude 8, Toughness 5/2, Will 8

Power Points
Abilities 52 + Powers 0 + Advantages 24 + Skills 38 (76 ranks) + Defenses 21 = 135

It wasn't until I was getting into M&M about a decade ago and reading discussions with more well-read comic fans that I even realized there were multiple Batgirls. I think I was aware that Barbara Gordon became Oracle at that point, but had no idea that more girls were waiting to throw themselves into harm's way. So I'm not sure what order or how many there are, although I know BatgirlIII posted a list on the old boards at some point. I only know Stephanie Brown is definitely not the first and probably won't be the last.

Her backstory is interesting in that she's kind of an anti-legacy character; her father was a villain called the Cluemaster and she would secretly follow him and spoil his plans, hence calling herself "Spoiler," and continuing this identity even when Cluemaster was imprisoned and eventually teaming up with the younger Bat-fams. When Cassandra Cain left Gotham and Stephanie defeated Scarecrow with Oracle's help, Oracle set her up with training and a costume to be the next Batgirl.

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Stephanie is list in the DCA book as PL8, but barely squeezes up to PL9 with her Grab of all things; FGT 8 + Close Attack 5 + Grabbing Finesse w/DEX 4 = 17/2 = PL 8.5. Most GMs probably wouldn't notice until it happened in-game, so now you have one more reason to have a high DEX. 8-) Stephanie is one of the very few builds that takes full advantage of DEX, having ranged attacks, Sleight of Hand, Vehicles, and even Grabbing Finesse, so it might even be worth making it higher.

Besides the wrestling, Steph only hits offensive caps with her Bo Staff and is PL7 unarmed or at range with Batarangs, but hits all of her defensive caps for PL8, making her pretty balanced overall if also overpointed. Some careful trimming with Abilities and Skills could probably get her to RtP PL8.

She is heavily equipment based, although she is still PL7 O&D without it all; it mostly gives her options instead of being completely reliant on it for combat. One weird piece is the Wireless Relay built as Comm 3 limited to Oracle. The builder was probably unaware of the Commlink option that does this just as well for 1ep instead of 6. This brings her total down to 135.

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A PL10 version of Batgirl is essentially Cassandra, at least the way the DCA book has them. As the "littlest bat" in the book, though, Stephanie would probably make a good template for any new bat-recruit: human range abilities favouring sharp minds, nimble bodies and high FGT ranks, backed up by lots of AGI-, PRE-, and Investigative skills, and lotsa gadgets.
Last edited by JDRook on Sun Oct 18, 2020 12:25 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Bane & a Colony of Bats

Post by Davies »

JDRook wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:58 am It wasn't until I was getting into M&M about a decade ago and reading discussions with more well-read comic fans that I even realized there were multiple Batgirls. I think I was aware that Barbara Gordon became Oracle at that point, but had no idea that more girls were waiting to throw themselves into harm's way. So I'm not sure what order or how many there are, although I know BatgirlIII posted a list on the old boards at some point. I only know Stephanie Brown is definitely not the first and probably won't be the last.
As these things go, it's fairly simple. The first post-Barbara Batgirl was Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress, using the costume that would later pass to Cassandra Cain. When the latter temporarily quit the superhero business, the name passed to Stephanie Brown. Prior to Barbara, Bette/Betty Kane appeared as Bat-Girl, partner of the original version of Bat-woman, but Betty was altered by the Crisis to have been active as Flamebird instead, and her status in the post-Infinite Crisis DCU is somewhat confused.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!

Post by JDRook »

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Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) - PL 10

Strength 2, Stamina 4, Agility 5, Dexterity 5, Fighting 10, Intellect 1, Awareness 4, Presence 1

Advantages
Agile Feint, Assessment, Benefit, Cipher, Close Attack 3, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 7, Grabbing Finesse, Great Endurance, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Critical: Unarmed, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Instant Up, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 3, Skill Mastery: Insight, Uncanny Dodge

Skills
Acrobatics 7 (+12), Athletics 7 (+9), Close Combat: Unarmed 5 (+15), Insight 8 (+12), Intimidation 4 (+5), Investigation 6 (+7), Perception 7 (+11), Ranged Combat: Batarangs 5 (+10), Sleight of Hand 4 (+9), Stealth 7 (+12), Vehicles 4 (+9)

Equipment
Flashlight
Grapnel Gun: Movement 1 (Swinging)
Mini-tracer
Restraints

Utility Belt
Batarangs: Strength-based Damage 2 (DC 18; Increased Range: ranged)
Bolos: Affliction 4 (1st degree: Hindered, Vulnerable, 2nd degree: Immobile, Defenseless, DC 14; Alternate Resistance (Dodge), Extra Condition, Increased Range: ranged; Limited Degree)
Cutting Torch
. . Damage: Damage 1 (DC 16; Linked: Weaken: Weaken 1)
. . Weaken: Weaken 1 (Affects: Toughness, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 11)
Explosive Batarangs: Burst Area Damage 4 (DC 19; Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, DC 14, Increased Range: ranged)
Flash Bombs: Burst Area Affliction 3 (1st degree: Impaired, 2nd degree: Disabled, 3rd degree: Unaware, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 13; Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, DC 13, Increased Range: ranged)
Sleep Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 4 (1st degree: Fatigued, 2nd degree: Exhausted, 3rd degree: Asleep, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 14; Cloud Area: 15 feet radius sphere, DC 14, Increased Range: ranged)
Smoke Bombs: Cloud Area Concealment Attack 4 (All Visual Senses, DC 14; Cloud Area: 15 feet radius sphere, DC 14, Attack: Dodge)
Tear Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 3 (1st degree: Dazed, Impaired, 2nd degree: Stunned, Disabled, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 13; Cloud Area: 15 feet radius sphere, DC 13, Extra Condition, Increased Range: ranged)
Motorcycle - PL 4
STR 1, Def 0, Tou 8, Size Medium
Powers: Speed 6 (Speed: 120 miles/hour, 1800 feet/round). Features: Navigation System 1.
Totals: Abilities 1 + Powers 6 + Advantages 0 + Features 1 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Defenses 3 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 11
Offense
Initiative +9
Batarangs: Strength-based Damage 2, +13 (DC 19)
Bolos: Affliction 4, +8 (DC Dog/Fort/Will 14)
Explosive Batarangs: Burst Area Damage 4 (DC 19)
Flash Bombs: Burst Area Affliction 3 (DC Fort 13)
Grab, +13 (DC Spec 15)
Sleep Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 4 (DC Fort 14)
Smoke Bombs: Cloud Area Concealment Attack 4 (DC Dog 14)
Tear Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 3 (DC Fort 13)
Throw, +8 (DC 17)
Unarmed, +18 (DC 17)

Complications
Fear of Abandonment: Cassandra’s brutal upbringing has left her with a serious fear of abandonment, and a vulnerability to mental manipulation.

Defense
Dodge 15, Parry 15, Fortitude 10, Toughness 5/4, Will 10

Power Points
Abilities 64 + Powers 0 + Advantages 28 + Skills 32 (64 ranks) + Defenses 27 = 151

Cassandra Cain made her first kill at age 8. Moulded from before birth to be the ultimate assassin, she escaped her father/trainer after that first blooding and eventually ended up in Gotham and of interest to the Batfam. She doesn't speak initially, due to her training emphasizing "body language" over spoken, giving her the much-touted ability to "read" people's movements. The rest seems to be pretty well-known history since of all the non-Babs Batgirls, the one I hear talked about the most is Cain.

Brown and Cain are reasonably similar mechanically, and due to the layout in the DCA book you can do a literal side-by-side comparison. Cain has at least a 1 rank edge in all Abilities except INT and PRE (predictable since she is a higher PL), most of the same Skills and Advantages, and almost exactly the same equipment loadout save that she doesn't need a melee weapon, an armoured costume, or even a radio (although she does have a motorcycle). If I had to infer combat styles from Advantages and Skills, Brown is better at disarming, supporting and keeping out reach, while Cain can be a relentless close fighter. Brown also has better interaction skills, including Intimidation which I would not have expected; I think of Cain as "the skinny one with the full mask" which I find more intimidating design-wise.

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As mentioned, Cain is PL10 and again almost RTP in that she's listed at 150p in the book but the math says she's got a little more skill than that and pushes it to 151. She hits ALL her defensive caps with an even F/W and a heavy Defense-shift on her hard defenses, but only hits offensive cap with her absurdly Attack-shifted +18/Str 2 unarmed. (Incidentally, this means she can't really use her Power Attack Advantage when unarmed, trading off to Damage 4 at most. This would be a great place to use Str-based Damage with the "Martial Arts Training" Descriptor.) Her Batarang only hits PL8.5, or even with Brown's Grab; both also have Bolos but neither list their Attack bonuses specifically in the book, but if Brown can apply RC:Throwing to Batarangs and Bolos, I don't see why Cain couldn't too.

There's still the glaring omission of Cain's "Body Reading" which I've seen some posters design as a Will-resisted Vulnerable/Defenseless Affliction Limited to her attacks. Reading a bit deeper in the books, Lady Shiva (Cain's mother) has the same power defined as Enhanced Uncanny Dodge & D/P 4 Resistible by Will, plus undefined Danger Sense. Cain's body reading could just be considered her Uncanny Dodge, high defenses (that are NOT resistible) and maybe her Assessment and SM:Insight. It's one of those unfortunate inconsistencies likely due to several contributors working on a tight schedule with unpredictable communications from all involved parties.

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There are several small mechanical changes I could see making to Cassandra (and similar Batfams). I'm always tempted to consolidate their training into superhuman Ability ranks that are mechanically identical: Cain, for instance, is effectively at FGT 13, AGI 9 and AWE 10 if you take back the points from Skills and Advantages. I'd definitely give her Skill Mastery: Acrobatics instead of Instant Up since at her Acro rank it can do InstUp's job and more for the same 1p. I'd probably trim out some of the standard bat-equipment she rarely uses to put that point elsewhere and HP if I need a cutting torch or something, probably balanced with more Complications like her problems speaking. I'd be really torn about using either Will-resisted Defenses or one of my Afflictions with an Alternate Resistance to FGT or something to represent her body reading a little more overtly.

The one thing I am sure of is if a friend of mine wanted to play Batgirl in a game, I don't think I'd direct her to this one, despite it looking like one the few "ready-made" PCs. UPDATE: After making the Batgirl Template I decided to stop teasing and post my edit of the DCA version of Cassandra.

Batgirl (Cassandra Cain - Rook Edit 2022-02-22) - PL 10

Strength 2, Stamina 4, Agility 6, Dexterity 6, Fighting 11, Intellect 1, Awareness 6, Presence 1

Advantages
Agile Feint, Assessment, Benefit, Cipher, Close Attack 3, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 6, Grabbing Finesse, Great Endurance, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Critical: Unarmed, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Skill Mastery: Acrobatics, Skill Mastery: Insight, Uncanny Dodge

Skills
Acrobatics 6 (+12), Athletics 7 (+9), Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+13), Insight 6 (+12), Intimidation 4 (+5), Investigation 6 (+7), Perception 5 (+11), Ranged Combat: Batarang 4 (+10), Sleight of Hand 3 (+9), Stealth 6 (+12), Vehicles 3 (+9)

Powers

Assassin Training: Strength-based Damage 2 (DC 19) - 2p
Body Reading - 6p
. . Anticipate Attacks: Senses 1 (Danger Sense: Visual, Advantages: Uncanny Dodge) [2]
. . Defense Boost: Enhanced Trait 8 (Traits: Dodge +4 (+15), Parry +4 (+15); Resistible: Will) [4]

Equipment Arsenal
Grapnel Gun: Movement 1 (Swinging)
Batarangs: Strength-based Damage 2 (DC 19; Increased Range: ranged)
Bolos: Affliction 4 (1st degree: Hindered, Vulnerable, 2nd degree: Immobile, Defenseless, DC 14; Alternate Resistance (Dodge), Extra Condition, Increased Range: ranged; Limited Degree)
Smoke Bombs: Cloud Area Concealment Attack 4 (All Visual Senses, DC 14; Cloud Area: 15 feet radius sphere, DC 14, Attack: Dodge)

Equipment
Flashlight, Mini-tracer, Motorcycle, Restraints, Utility Belt (Batarangs, Bolos, Smoke Bombs)

Offense
Initiative +10
Assassin Training: Strength-based Damage 2, +16 (DC 19)
Batarangs: Strength-based Damage 2, +14 (DC 19)
Bolos: Affliction 4, +10 (DC Dog/Fort/Will 14)
Grab, +14 (DC Spec 16)
Smoke Bombs: Cloud Area Concealment Attack 4 (DC Dog 14)
Throw, +10 (DC 17)
Unarmed, +16 (DC 17)

Complications
Fear of Abandonment: Cassandra’s brutal upbringing has left her with a serious fear of abandonment, and a vulnerability to mental manipulation.

Defense
Dodge 15/11, Parry 15/11, Fortitude 10, Toughness 5/4, Will 10

Power Points
Abilities 74 + Powers 8 + Advantages 27 + Skills 26 (52 ranks) + Defenses 15 = 150

UPADTE 2022-02-22: I came back and did a little more tweaking on this one. I still like the use of a rank or two of Str-based Damage to represent martial arts training for better damage, but I realized 3 ranks was too high; this gave Cassandra the capacity to do Damage 10 Power attacks unarmed, something no other official non-powered character (including Batman) can do. I used to think this was a weakness of the system, since the Crimefighter and Martial Arts Archetypes also have this issue, but now I think it's more than reasonable to not have essentially human character, even highly trained, top out at Damage 8 from a single unarmed hit.

I still took a lot of inspiration from the Lady Shiva build, giving Cain near-superhuman (but still slightly lower) AGI, DEX and AWE, as well as the full Body Reading power. I gave her 2 ranks of Str-Based Damage training so she can still hit pretty hard, but not like a rocket launcher. OTOH, her increased DEX and FGT actually let her hit PL10 with her Grab, and she could potentially Grab with Power Attack for 11 ranks of Effect, a great way to get a target defenseless and use a Finishing Attack on them, which definitely works for an assassin. Her Close Attack bonus is slightly lower only because she hits harder now but still at PL10. Her initiative and ranged attacks are slightly higher, and all of her defenses still hit caps. I ditched a chunk of her bat-kit, mainly all the grenades except smoke and the cutting torch, since she doesn't often use weapons and can always burn a Hero Point to "conveniently" bring one of those back.

As I mention later, she doesn't feel like a Batgirl to me, but she's a great concept and deserves her own name. My first thought was Baby Shiva, which is ridiculous, followed by Shiv, which isn't bad but feels a little 90's. Both Cassandra and Cain both feel overused in other concepts. I even tried looking for Shiva variants that might work (there are literally over 100 alternate names for Shiva), but none of them spark as much in my western mind, and I'm not clear if she would want a name reminiscent of her mother.

In any case, this build feels much closer to concept and a lot more playable.
Last edited by JDRook on Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:48 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!

Post by Ken »

JDRook wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:25 am JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!
Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!

Post by Scrollreader »

JDRook wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:25 am The one thing I am sure of is if a friend of mine wanted to play Batgirl in a game, I don't think I'd direct her to this one, despite it looking like one the few "ready-made" PCs.
Out of curiosity, why is that? Her extreme attack shift? Her complications? The lack of specifications for her 'body reading' other than just high fighting and defenses?
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!

Post by JDRook »

Scrollreader wrote: Sat Sep 26, 2020 4:24 am
JDRook wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:25 am The one thing I am sure of is if a friend of mine wanted to play Batgirl in a game, I don't think I'd direct her to this one, despite it looking like one the few "ready-made" PCs.
Out of curiosity, why is that? Her extreme attack shift? Her complications? The lack of specifications for her 'body reading' other than just high fighting and defenses?
Kind of all of that. At the character concept level, I don't like it. Cain feels the least "Batgirl" to me: her training and lifepath have been chosen for her whereas Brown and Gordon have more agency in their background. And it's not that I think it's a bad concept (this is, what, the 3rd "trained from birth warrior" so far?), but it doesn't feel like Batgirl to me.

Now if the player specifically wanted to play Cassandra Cain, the technical issues come up. Her unarmed attack can't really get up as strong as it should for someone who apparently can even knock Batman on his heels occasionally, and the whole body reading issue may be unsatisfying if it's not specifically called out.

In either case, it wouldn't take more than a little tweaking to make it work, but a new player or GM is going to look at those numbers or the highlighted sections in the appendix listing PL and points and simply assume this build is playable off the rack. To be fair, it's at least 80% there, but IMO it's not as newbie-friendly or as Cain-accurate as it could be.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!

Post by Scrollreader »

Totally fair. Cass is probably not the Batgirl most comics adjacent people think of. And I agree there are a couple issues. Just curious, since I'm planning on playing a character who is very much inspired by Cassandra in an upcoming game.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!

Post by JDRook »

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Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) - PL 9

Strength 3, Stamina 3, Agility 4, Dexterity 5, Fighting 9, Intellect 4, Awareness 4, Presence 3

Advantages
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, Beginner's Luck, Close Attack 2, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Eidetic Memory, Equipment 7, Evasion 2, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Instant Up, Jack-of-all-trades, Ranged Attack 3, Redirect, Set-up, Well-informed

Skills
Acrobatics 8 (+12), Athletics 8 (+11), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+13), Deception 5 (+8), Expertise: Law Enforcement 6 (+10), Expertise: Research 10 (+14), Insight 5 (+9), Investigation 8 (+12), Perception 7 (+11), Persuasion 5 (+8), Ranged Combat: Batarang 5 (+10), Stealth 7 (+11), Technology 6 (+10), Vehicles 10 (+15)

Powers
Cowl Sensors: Senses 2 (Removable, Infravision, Tracking: Infravision 1: -1 speed rank)

Equipment
Flashlight
Grapnel Gun: Movement 1 (Swinging)
Mini-tracer
Rebreather

Utility Belt
Batarangs: Strength-based Damage 2 (DC 18; Increased Range: ranged)
Bolos: Affliction 4 (1st degree: Hindered, Vulnerable, 2nd degree: Immobile, Defenseless, DC 14; Alternate Resistance (Dodge), Extra Condition, Increased Range: ranged; Limited Degree)
Cutting Torch
. . Damage: Damage 1 (DC 16; Linked: Weaken: Weaken 1)
. . Weaken: Weaken 1 (Affects: Toughness, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 11)
Explosive Batarangs: Burst Area Damage 4 (DC 19; Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, DC 14, Increased Range: ranged)
Flash Bombs: Burst Area Affliction 3 (1st degree: Impaired, 2nd degree: Disabled, 3rd degree: Unaware, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 13; Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, DC 13, Increased Range: ranged)
Sleep Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 4 (1st degree: Fatigued, 2nd degree: Exhausted, 3rd degree: Asleep, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 14; Cloud Area: 15 feet radius sphere, DC 14, Increased Range: ranged)
Smoke Bombs: Cloud Area Concealment Attack 4 (All Visual Senses, DC 14; Cloud Area: 15 feet radius sphere, DC 14, Attack: Dodge)
Tear Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 3 (1st degree: Dazed, Impaired, 2nd degree: Stunned, Disabled, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 13; Cloud Area: 15 feet radius sphere, DC 13, Extra Condition, Increased Range: ranged)
Motorcycle - PL 4
STR 1, Def 0, Tou 8, Size Medium
Powers: Speed 6 (Speed: 120 miles/hour, 1800 feet/round). Features: Navigation System 1.
Totals: Abilities 1 + Powers 6 + Advantages 0 + Features 1 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Defenses 3 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 11
Offense
Initiative +8
Batarangs: Strength-based Damage 2, +13 (DC 19)
Bolos: Affliction 4, +8 (DC Dog/Fort/Will 14)
Explosive Batarangs: Burst Area Damage 4 (DC 19)
Flash Bombs: Burst Area Affliction 3 (DC Fort 13)
Grab, +11 (DC Spec 15)
Sleep Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 4 (DC Fort 14)
Smoke Bombs: Cloud Area Concealment Attack 4 (DC Dog 14)
Tear Gas Pellets: Cloud Area Affliction 3 (DC Fort 13)
Throw, +8 (DC 18)
Unarmed, +15 (DC 18)

Complications
Family: Babs is dedicated to her father, Commissioner Jim Gordon, and also her extended family in the super-hero community, namely the Batman family and the Birds of Prey.

Defense
Dodge 14, Parry 14, Fortitude 8, Toughness 5/3, Will 8

Power Points
Abilities 70 + Powers 2 + Advantages 32 + Skills 47 (94 ranks) + Defenses 24 = 175

And finally, Babs. Of course my first exposure to Batgirl wasn't from comics but the 60's Batman show in reruns with Yvonne Craig in a purple sparkly bodysuit, which may have affected my impressionable young brain (and likely countless others) in my attitude toward redheads who play dressup.

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Again, I didn't really know her whole backstory until years later, picking up some from the DCA books and some from Batgirl III on the old ATT boards.

While Barbara did suffer the tragic loss of both parents much like Batman (by accident, not crime), instead of being raised by the family butler she was taken in and adopted by her uncle James Gordon. Being a bright girl full of curiosity and wonder and fascinated by superheroes and crimefighting, she was lucky enough to secretly catch Jim and Batman meeting. This put her in full fangirl mode for the Dark Knight, driving her to focus her energies on martial arts and physical mastery as well as academic excellence, but like most real-world people her dreams shifted as she got older and her thirst for knowledge led to her getting a doctorate in Library Sciences (Dr. Batgirl?) and becoming the top librarian in Gotham.

The bat-dreams of her youth come back when her father invites her to a masquerade ball and she decides to cross-play as her hero, making a full costume and even a few gadgets. Of course, the party is crashed by Killer Moth & Goons who take philanthropist/playboy Bruce Wayne hostage. The DCA book says Barbara "rescues" Wayne in quotes, so I assume Bruce did some clever stuff while the goons were distracted by the distaff dark knight; in any case, he must have seen she had some potential as he eventually (if grudgingly) agrees to train her.

Barbara operates as Batgirl for several years, working with Batman, Robin and others, until the events that lead her to become Oracle, which I assume I'll cover in another calendar year.

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Barbara Gordon as Batgirl is listed as a PL 9 with 175p, although her STA, Defensive Roll and Defenses add up to a defensive PL9.5. Compared to the previous two Batgirls she is the strongest at STR 3 (although again using a rank or two of Str-based Damage as Martial Arts training might be more appropriate), the smartest by a wide margin with INT 4, and either in the middle or on par with the highest (usually Cain) for everything else. The Advantage packages are also similar, with Gordon having more skill based options like Beginner's Luck, Eidetic Memory, JoaT and Well-Informed; she is also a more defensive and tricky fighter, with no Grappling specialty but Accurate Attack, Evasion 2, Improved Defense, Redirect and Set-up.

Skills are naturally greater in most cases for Barbara, as she is the most skill-based and has the longest history of the three. Her advanced education gives her Expertise in Research and Law Enforcement as well as Technology, and she has an edge in Athletics, Investigation, Perception and Vehicle over the others. On the other hand, she's the only one without Intimidation or Sleight of Hand, although her JoaT helps fill in those blanks.

Powers and kit are also mostly identical, with the only standout differences being the Rebreather and the Cowl. The Cowl as a Device with Infrared Tracking could potentially be equipment considering how broad the bat-gadgetry is; GM's choice.

Overall, Barbara is obviously not as deadly as Cassandra but easily makes up for it in support, both in skills and combat.

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It's at this point I'd usually try to make a PL10 version of Batgirl, which wouldn't be too hard; swapping STR for Str-based Damage, FGT for some Close Combat Skill and consolidating her Expertises would get you most of the way there. However, doing these 3 BGs in a row got me thinking it might be more useful to make a "Batgirl Template" that others can build on, and I'll put it in a separate post so it's easier to index.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!

Post by Jabroniville »

Nicely done! Always good to look at the character's history. She's gotta be one of the more permanent "created because of a TV show" characters in comics, if you think about it. Also, Yvonne Craig is the best ever.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 8:56 am Nicely done! Always good to look at the character's history. She's gotta be one of the more permanent "created because of a TV show" characters in comics, if you think about it. Also, Yvonne Craig is the best ever.
Perry White and Jimmy Olsen would be the only other contenders, except they were created for RADIO.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Batgirls! Batgirls! Batgirls!

Post by Scrollreader »

In a more modern setting, Harley Quinn appears to be here to stay. And despite first appearing (IIRC) in a comic first, she was created for B:tAS.
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