FRANKLIN RICHARDS (aka Tattletale, Psi-Lord)- Teenager
Created By: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Fantastic Four Annual #6 (Summer 1968)
Role: All-Powerful Child
Group Affiliations: Power Pack, The Fantastic Four, Fantastic Force
PL 20 (366)
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1
Skills:
Deception 4 (+4)
Persuasion 5 (+5)
Stealth 3 (+4, +8 Size)
Advantages:
Equipment (FF Costume +1 Protection), Set-Up, Teamwork
Powers:
"Cosmic Force"
Flight 10 (2,000 mph) [20]
Movement 1 (Space Travel 1) [2]
Senses 7 (Detect Energy- Ranged 4, Acute, Analytical) [7]
"Cosmic Sight" Senses 7 (Extended Vision 4, Microvision, Analytical Vision) [7]
Senses 4 (Precognition) [4]
"Will Live To See The Heat Death of Everything" Immunity 1 (Aging) [1]
"Phenomenal Cosmic Power!"
"Restructure Reality" Transform 55 (Anything to Anything) (Extras: Continuous) (275) -- [294]
- Dynamic AE: "Cosmic Stream" Damage 20 (Feats: Dynamic, Variable 2- Any Energy) (Extras: Area- 500ft. Line +5, Selective) (142)
- Dynamic AE: "Cosmic Burst" Damage 20 (Feats: Dynamic, Variable 2- Any Energy) (Extras: Area- 500ft. Burst +5, Selective) (142)
- Dynamic AE: "Cosmic Wave" Damage 20 (Feats: Dynamic, Variable 2- Any Energy) (Extras: Area- 1,000ft. Cone +5, Selective) (142)
- Dynamic AE: "Cosmic Blast" Blast 28 (Feats: Dynamic, Variable 2- Any Energy, Extended Range 6, Indirect 4, Penetrating 14) (82)
- Dynamic AE: "All-Reaching Blast" Blast 20 (Feats: Dynamic, Variable 2- Any Energy, Indirect, Penetrating 14) (Extras: Perception Range) (78)
- Dynamic AE: Force Field +0 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Affects Others 20, Impervious 23) (43)
- AE: "Create Worlds" Create 25 (Feats: Innate, Precise, Increased Mass 20) (Extras: Movable, Continuous) (121)
- AE: "Capable of Nearly Any Effect" Variable (Cosmic) 30 (210)
- AE: Teleport 20 (Feats: Increased Mass 10) (Extras: Extended, Accurate) (90)
- AE: Movement 9 (Dimensional Travel 3, Time Travel 3, Space Travel 3) (Feats: Increased Mass 5) (Extras: Attack 20, Area- 500ft. Burst +5 on 20 Ranks) (23)
- AE: "Move The Stars Themselves" Move Object 40 (262,144,000,000 tons) (Extras: Perception Range) (120)
- AE: "Teleport Others" Teleport 20 (Feats: Increased Mass 5) (Extras: Attack, Ranged) (85)
- AE: "Sense Energy" Senses 22 (Detect Energy- Ranged 17- 1,600 trillion miles, Acute & Analytical, Tracking) (22)
- AE: "Sense Life" Senses 22 (Detect Life- Ranged 17- 1,600 trillion miles, Tracking) (22)
Unarmed +6 (+20 Damage, DC 35)
Cosmic Blast +0 (+28 Ranged Damage, DC 43)
Cosmic Waves +20 Area (+20 Damage, DC 35)
Initiative +0
Offense:
Unarmed +0 (-2 Damage, DC 13)
Initiative +0
Defenses:
Dodge +3 (DC 13), Parry +3 (DC 13), Toughness -1 (+0 Costume), Fortitude +1, Will +5
Complications:
Prejudice (Child)- Franklin is practically a baby, and will not be overly trusted or believed by most adults.
Relationship (Parents)- Franklin loves his parents, but frequently feels abandoned by them. As one of the premier super-couples in the world, their time is valuable and they cannot always be there for him.
Secret (Omega-Level Mutant)- Franklin may be the most powerful super-being to ever live, in the entire universe. Though his power is mostly held-back, such might is a tremendous responsibility, and may draw the absolute worst kind of attention.
Power Loss (All Powers)- Franklin is randomly-subject to Mental Blocks on his powers.
Total: Abilities: 6 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 332 / Defenses: 14 (366)
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FRANKLIN RICHARDS (aka Tattletale, Psi-Lord)- Little Boy
Created By: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Fantastic Four Annual #6 (Summer 1968)
Role: All-Powerful Child
Group Affiliations: Power Pack, The Fantastic Four, Fantastic Force
PL 20 (352)
STRENGTH -2 STAMINA -1 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE 0
Skills:
Deception 4 (+4)
Persuasion 5 (+5)
Stealth 3 (+4, +8 Size)
Advantages:
Equipment (FF Costume +1 Protection), Set-Up, Teamwork
Powers:
"Cosmic Force"
Flight 10 (2,000 mph) [20]
Movement 1 (Space Travel 1) [2]
Senses 7 (Detect Energy- Ranged 4, Acute, Analytical) [7]
"Cosmic Sight" Senses 7 (Extended Vision 4, Microvision, Analytical Vision) [7]
Senses 4 (Precognition) [4]
"Will Live To See The Heat Death of Everything" Immunity 1 (Aging) [1]
"Phenomenal Cosmic Power!"
"Restructure Reality" Transform 55 (Anything to Anything) (Extras: Continuous) (275) -- [294]
- Dynamic AE: "Cosmic Stream" Damage 20 (Feats: Dynamic, Variable 2- Any Energy) (Extras: Area- 500ft. Line +5, Selective) (142)
- Dynamic AE: "Cosmic Burst" Damage 20 (Feats: Dynamic, Variable 2- Any Energy) (Extras: Area- 500ft. Burst +5, Selective) (142)
- Dynamic AE: "Cosmic Wave" Damage 20 (Feats: Dynamic, Variable 2- Any Energy) (Extras: Area- 1,000ft. Cone +5, Selective) (142)
- Dynamic AE: "Cosmic Blast" Blast 28 (Feats: Dynamic, Variable 2- Any Energy, Extended Range 6, Indirect 4, Penetrating 14) (82)
- Dynamic AE: "All-Reaching Blast" Blast 20 (Feats: Dynamic, Variable 2- Any Energy, Indirect, Penetrating 14) (Extras: Perception Range) (78)
- Dynamic AE: Force Field +0 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Affects Others 20, Impervious 23) (43)
- AE: "Create Worlds" Create 25 (Feats: Innate, Precise, Increased Mass 20) (Extras: Movable, Continuous) (121)
- AE: "Capable of Nearly Any Effect" Variable (Cosmic) 30 (210)
- AE: Teleport 20 (Feats: Increased Mass 10) (Extras: Extended, Accurate) (90)
- AE: Movement 9 (Dimensional Travel 3, Time Travel 3, Space Travel 3) (Feats: Increased Mass 5) (Extras: Attack 20, Area- 500ft. Burst +5 on 20 Ranks) (23)
- AE: "Move The Stars Themselves" Move Object 40 (262,144,000,000 tons) (Extras: Perception Range) (120)
- AE: "Teleport Others" Teleport 20 (Feats: Increased Mass 5) (Extras: Attack, Ranged) (85)
- AE: "Sense Energy" Senses 22 (Detect Energy- Ranged 17- 1,600 trillion miles, Acute & Analytical, Tracking) (22)
- AE: "Sense Life" Senses 22 (Detect Life- Ranged 17- 1,600 trillion miles, Tracking) (22)
Unarmed +6 (+20 Damage, DC 35)
Cosmic Blast +0 (+28 Ranged Damage, DC 43)
Cosmic Waves +20 Area (+20 Damage, DC 35)
Initiative +0
Offense:
Unarmed +0 (-2 Damage, DC 13)
Initiative +0
Defenses:
Dodge +3 (DC 13), Parry +3 (DC 13), Toughness -1 (+0 Costume), Fortitude +1, Will +5
Complications:
Prejudice (Child)- Franklin is practically a baby, and will not be overly trusted or believed by most adults.
Relationship (Parents)- Franklin loves his parents, but frequently feels abandoned by them. As one of the premier super-couples in the world, their time is valuable and they cannot always be there for him.
Secret (Omega-Level Mutant)- Franklin may be the most powerful super-being to ever live, in the entire universe. Though his power is mostly held-back, such might is a tremendous responsibility, and may draw the absolute worst kind of attention.
Power Loss (All Powers)- Franklin is randomly-subject to Mental Blocks on his powers.
Total: Abilities: -8 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 333 / Defenses: 14 (352)
Franklin Richards- Why Other Superheroes Didn't Have Kids:
-Oh man, I don't even know where to start. So few people in comics have kids (in the old days, heroes were meant to be as sexless as possible, so they often had some token "Girlfriend" character around- even cartoon characters only had NEPHEWS so we'd never think they'd actually had sex), so Franklin stands out as a special case. Hell, he's probably the reason nobody ELSE in comics has kids! It was a great, noble idea- Reed & Sue having babies and all that, like natural couples do- something totally different for comics. The Marvel Universe moved constantly forward, and characterization did as well, to limits yet unseen in the comic book medium, so it made perfect sense for the loving, married couple to have offspring. But writers just couldn't leave it alone- he gained Super-Jesus powers as a toddler, got left alone by his parents a lot (the '80s was a really angsty time for comic book characters, even children), got kidnapped and sent to be raised in the future by his anti-hero grandfather, sent back as a super-powered adult, had a future-baby with Rachel Summers that turned out to be an evil Demi-God, then came back as a kid again, and his age is all over the map... he's pretty much the embodiment of messed-up continuity.
-Franklin debuted in the late '60s, written by Stan & Jack, and pretty quickly showcased some powers when he was a toddler- Reed shut down his mind temporarily to get a better hang on them, but they "burned out" a bit and went back to dormancy after Ultron tried to use the boy's powers. COUNTLESS super-villains tried to attack the FF through Franklin, and he'd pull out last-minute superpower saves just as countlessly, to the point where writers would often try to de-power him (Reed put in psychic inhibitors), just as much as others would use him to write things out. He joined Power Pack in the 1980s, living with them while his parents were at Avengers Mansion (and thus getting used to having "siblings"), and his mutant status became a public issue. Throughout most of this time, Franklin was barely above toddler-age after 20 years of existence. An issue had developed- not every writer wanted to be "bogged down" with kids, so he was often written out... but how do you write out someone's CHILD?
Psi-Lord & Heroes Reborn:
-Franklin was later kidnapped by his time-travelling grandfather Nathaniel, and was swapped out with his teenage counterpart, Psi-Lord, who was raised in a dimension outside of time. Yup- the Comic Book Super-Age-Up. I would assume this drove his parents nuts. This Franklin created the short-lived "Fantastic Force" as a spin-off book, and used more basic, low-level powers- Telepathy, Precognition & Psionic Energy Blasts. This came off like a combination of a cash-grab and ripping off the X-Men (all the Psionic stuff)... so also a cash-grab. He removed the Malice personality from his mother, but ended up struggling with it himself until he put it in the mind of the alternate-Reed, the Dark Raider. Eventually, Nathaniel revealed the terrible "potential future" where Franklin & Rachel Summers would have a baby who would become the mega-villain Hyperstorm- the villain "diverted attention" from himself by swapping in Young Franklin for Teen Franklin at the exact point Nathaniel abducted him, so I guess Young Franklin was back now?
-And then he and his parents are separated AGAIN, as they die during the "Onslaught" attacks. Franklin becomes a Generation-X supporting character and befriends Leech again (they met during Power Pack), but he ultimately ends up the plot device that brings the heroes back- his all-powerful abilities had caused every dead hero to be "reborn" in an alternate Earth, and finally the heroes returned. And just as his greatest power feat ever was accomplished (The Celestials even recognize him as being on a level with them), he was de-powered reforming Galactus during the fight against Abraxas and rescuing his stillborn sister- here, he finally becomes a big brother. By this point, he appears to be 10-11.
The Future Foundation:
-Several years of FF stories follow, and in the Jon Hickman run, an elder Franklin & Valeria arrive, reawakening young Franklin's powers and tutoring him in secret. Franklin and a reborn Galactus (saved by young Franklin) defeat the three "Mad Celestials" at the core of this arc after a huge battle, and Franklin learns that he is likely immortal. With another big Hickman arc rebooting everything, Franklin disappears along with his immediate family- this allows Marvel to age him up outside of our time, and he reappears as a snotty TEENAGER of all things! Dyeing his hair black, he deals with competitiveness as his sister's genius proves to be more attention-grabbing than his iffy powers, but he manages to score his "Flying Vehicle" license over the absent-minded Val in a cute bit. Here, Franklin is more rebellious and tends to talk back, which is an interesting shift from the more quasi-useless, adoring kid of yore. Ultimately, however, he couldn't escape one more weird Retcon- it was revealed that Franklin was NEVER a mutant- his powers simply made people see him as one. And the new isolationist X-Men, who were all "no, you need to be with us" are like "nah, you suck- you can't stay here now". So, uh, we'll see where THAT goes.
Franklin as a Whole:
-... HOO BOY. Like fifty years of existence and he was just kind of a MESS. And this is why most books are gun-shy about introducing babies. He had to remain a toddler for years, received a couple of sudden "oh, time passed and you didn't see it" age-ups, aged a bit normally at OTHER times, and more. And some writer made the bone-headed decision that "Oh, Franklin is the Ultimate God-Tier Cosmic Guy", which has provided even more messes than THAT. Like, seriously, they had to put him in a coma while he was a friggin' toddler, de-power him with Power Pack, then the FF, then as Psi-Lord, then twice more in modern times, all because they decided he needed to be a high-level Reality Warper! So there's this never-ending see-saw of his powers disappearing then coming back, and they're just too tantalizing for most writers, because they also serve as the ultimate "Mulligan"- can't write your way out of a story? Just add FRANKLIN!
Franklin's Beyond-Omega-Level Powers:
-Franklin's powers are barely scaled-down from some other Cosmic Beings- he may one day be their equal, but not quite yet. ADULT Franklin has recently come to the modern timeline and proven himself more powerful than a gang of Celestials, but the younger version is weaker, and is prone to random de-powerings (or sometimes just having Uncontrolled Powers). Arguably his greatest feat was an instance of creating an entire WORLD that he carried around in the form of a ball- the source of Heroes Reborn. So effectively his powers are almost the ultimate "GM Trick", as they can make anything happen, ever, and it's largely uncontrolled if and when it does.
TATTLETALE (Franklin Richards)
Created By: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Fantastic Four Annual #6 (Summer 1968)
Role: The Innocent Child, The Baby
Group Affiliations: Power Pack, The Fantastic Four, Fantastic Force
PL 4 (42)
STRENGTH -4 STAMINA -1 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE -2 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE 0
Skills:
Deception 4 (+4)
Persuasion 5 (+5)
Stealth 3 (+4, +8 Size)
Advantages:
Benefit (Kymellian Smartship- Friday), Equipment 3 (Friday), Set-Up, Teamwork
Powers:
"Child-Size" Shrinking 4 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [5]
(-4 Strength, -2 Movement, +2 Dodge/Parry, -2 Intimidation)
"Dream-Senses" Senses 4 (Precognition) (Flaws: Limited to While Asleep) [2]
"Dream Self" Illusion (Visuals) 5 (Flaws: Limited to a Self-Image) Linked to Remote Senses 4 (Extras: Simultaneous) (Quirk: Noticeable- Franklin Image) [16]
"Power Pack Costume" 5 points (Flaws: Removable) [4]
Movement (Dimension- Elsewhere) (2)
Senses (Communication Link- Friday) (1)
Morph 1 (Clothes to Costume) (1)
Protection 1 (1)
Offense:
Unarmed +0 (-4 Damage, DC 11)
Initiative +0
Defenses:
Dodge +4 (+6 Size) (DC 16), Parry +4 (+6 Size) (DC 16), Toughness -1 (+0 Costume), Fortitude +0, Will +2
Complications:
Prejudice (Child)- Franklin is practically a baby, and will not be overly trusted or believed by most adults.
Relationship (Parents)- Franklin loves his parents, but frequently feels abandoned by them. As one of the premier super-couples in the world, their time is valuable and they cannot always be there for him.
Secret (Omega-Level Mutant)- Franklin may be the most powerful super-being to ever live, in the entire universe. Though his power is mostly held-back, such might is a tremendous responsibility, and may draw the absolute worst kind of attention.
Total: Abilities: -6 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 25 / Defenses: 11 (42)
-Deciding the power level of a guy who was at one point PL 20 with Variable Power out the yin-yang is pretty tough but with Power Pack, Franklin only had two powers, both of which were more strategic than fight-worthy- allowing him to predict what was going to happen, and to trick and confuse enemies into thinking his "Dream Self" (a combo of Remote Senses because the Self can see, and Illusion because enemies think Franklin is there) is really him. Otherwise, he's a helpless little kid, and in serious trouble against a real threat.