DEATHGRIP (Bruce Heward)
PL 10 (253)
STRENGTH 8
STAMINA 8
AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 8
DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 3
AWARENESS 3
PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Athletics 6 (+16)
Close Combat: Serpentine Tail 2 (+10)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise: Archeology 8 (+11)
Expertise: History 4 (+7)
Expertise: Mythology 6 (+9)
Insight 4 (+7)
Intimidation 8 (+10)
Investigation 4 (+7)
Perception 6 (+9)
Stealth 4 (+9)
Advantages:
All-out Attack, Benefit: Ambidexterity, Diehard, Evasion, Great Endurance, Improved Critical 2: Serpentine Tail, Improved Initiative 2, Languages 2 (English, Greek, Latin), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 8, Startle, Takedown, Trance
Powers:
"Python Mutation"
"Serpentine Tail"
Elongation 2 (30 feet) (Flaw: Limited to tail) [1]
Enhanced Strength 2 (Flaw: Limited to tail) [2]
Enhanced Trait 8 (Chokehold, Fast Grab, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Trip, Instant Up, Move-by Action, Prone Fighting) [8]
Extra Limbs 1 [1]
Movement 1 (Slithering) [2]
Speed 3 (16 mph) [3]
"Serpentine Senses" Senses 3 (Acute Scent, Acute Infravision) [3]
"ESP" Senses 6 (Radius Mental Danger Sense, Precognition) [6]
"Mental Defenses"
Enhanced Trait 6 (Will +6) (Flaw: Limited to Mental Effects) [3]
Impervious Will 12 (Flaw: Limited to Mental Effects) [6]
"Telepathic & Telekinetic Powers"
"Telekinetic Deathgrip" Affliction 12 (Impaired, Hindered & Vulnerable; Disabled, Restrained & Defenseless; Paralyzed; Resisted by Strength)
(Extras: Cumulative, Extra Condition 2, Increased Range) (Flaw: Instant Recovery) linked to Damage 8 (Extra: Increased Range 2) (72) - [83]
- Dynamic AE: Force Field 2 (Extra: Impervious 10) (12)
- Dynamic AE: "Telekinesis" Move Object 12 (100 tons) (24)
- Dynamic AE: "Telekinetic Blast" Blast 12 (24)
- Dynamic AE: "Telepathy" Mental Communication 2 (Extras: Area- 30 ft. Burst, Selective) linked to Mind Reading 10 (32)
- AE: "Mental Blast" Damage 10 (Extras: Alternate Resistance- Will, Increased Range 2) (40)
- AE: "Mental Burst" Affliction 8 (Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated; Resisted by Will) (Extras: Area- 30 ft. Burst, Selective) (24)
- AE: “Repelling Burst” Move Object 10 (25 tons) (Extras: Area- 30 ft. Burst, Damaging) (Flaws: Limited Direction: Away, Reduced Range) (20)
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Tail +10 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Deathgrip +8 (+12 Affliction/+8 Damage, DC 22/23)
Mental Blast/Repelling Burst (DC 25)
Mental Burst (DC 18)
Telekinesis/Blast +8 (+12 Effect/Damage, DC 22/27)
Initiative +13
Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +8 (+10 w/Force Field), Fortitude +8, Will +6 (+12 against mental effects)
Complications:
Disability (No Legs)- Deathgrip has no legs, and while he has found various ways to use his serpentine tail to make up for this, there are still some things that require human legs that his tail simply cannot replicate.
Motivation (Revenge)- Bruce has an intense paranoid delusion that the NPU board of directors is out to get him, and he seeks revenge for his supposed "betrayal" by them. In general, his delusion is so strong that anyone who opposes him is incorporated into the conspiracy, including Thunder Woman.
Prejudice (Obvious Mutant)- Deathgrip's mutated, reptilian nature is clear for all to see. He cannot pass for a normal human.
Relationship (Medusa)- Though they didn't meet until Hera formed the Herakratites, Deathgrip and Medusa have a sense of mutual kinship, what with both of them being former humans mutated into superpowered, reptilian forms. Though not quite at the romantic stage yet, the friendship between the two could be key to normalizing Deathgrip and ending his paranoid delusions.
Relationship (Samantha West)- While they weren't exactly close friends, Bruce and Samantha were professional colleagues who regarded each other well. That fondness is buried under the paranoid delusions of Deathgrip, but it still remains, and Samantha hopes that invoking those old memories may be key to healing Bruce's mind.
Rivalry (Lycaon)- Deathgrip and Lycaon don't get along very well, and Deathgrip resents Hera appointing Lycaon to be her lieutenant and the leader of the Herakratites when she is not around.
Total: Abilities: 74 / Skills: 56--28 / Advantages: 23 / Powers: 118 / Defenses: 10 (253)
Once, the man who would become Deathgrip was Doctor Bruce Heward, a professor of hsitory at Newport University, and a colleague of Samantha in NPU's many international archaeological expeditions. But during an excavation of a brand new site near Delphi sponsored by UNESCO, an earthquake opened a crack beneath the dig, and the shocks caused him to fall into the crack. There, Bruce found himself in a chamber containing the putrefying remains of the Python, the serpentine beast slain by Apollo, whose decaying emissions were the source of the precognitive powers of the Oracle of Delphi. Though his predicament was short thanks to the intervention of Thunder Woman, he had been directly exposed to a concentrated dose of the Python's necrotic fumes, and so remained hospitalized even after returning to Newport. There, Bruce's physical state worsened, and he began to mutate into a serpentine being, his brain growing out of his own skull. The mutations left him delirious and somewhat insane, so that when he found out that his seat at NPU had been given to another professor due to his ongoing situation, he went on a rampage, using telepathic and telekinetic powers to carve a swath of destruction to the NPU campus. Only the intervention of Thunder Woman prevented Bruce from carrying out his demented vengeance upon NPU. Ever since he has been a recurring opponent of Thunder Woman, who has been seeking a way to reverse the mutation of her ex-colleague before he can finally fulfill his illusory vendetta with NPU. He is also a frequent lackey to Hera, most notably as a member of the "Herakratites," Hera's squad of various Thunder Woman villains.