Jab’s Builds! (Beaker! Sam Eagle! Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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Ares
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Captain Britain! Psylocke! Revanche! Meggan!)

Post by Ares »

The hate Chuck Austen gets is entirely warranted. The only book he ever wrote that was even decent was his run on Exiles, which somehow managed to be better than Chris Claremont's run on things.

Other than that, Austen has proven himself to be a pretty terrible writer, basically engaging in the Bendis / Millar / Hickman formula of "I will radically alter existing characters to make them fit my story needs", but with a lot of self-insert/Mary Sue stuff as well. He wrote the most non-sensical X-Men story ever (which is impressive given that franchise) involving a plot by an evil religious group to make Nightcrawler the Pope, then murder people with specially designed communion wafers to make them think the Rapture was upon them (Catholics do not believe in the Rapture), in order to make people really hate mutants. I mean, it made Starlin's usual anti-religion stories seem downright insightful and nuanced.

Then you had his evil Kryptonian raping people, trying to break up Lois and Clark because he preferred Clark and Lana (for some reason), trying to break up Havoc and Polaris because Havoc was Chuck's self-insert character and Austen wanted to pair him up with the self-insert of Austen's wife, Angel having sex with a potentially under-aged girl in the air in view of her family, etc.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Jack of Spades
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Re: Jab's Builds! (The Press Gang! Cameron Hodge! Captain Britain!)

Post by Jack of Spades »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2017 9:57 pm
Jack of Spades wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2017 9:25 pm I'm finding myself going back to your ATT thread via your first page a lot lately, Jab, for the Archie builds. I've just introduced expys of the Archie gang as supporting cast in my campaign, and your writeups and history are invaluable.
Cool! is that 2e? Because I've done 3e since then :).
3e. I meant to say Ronin Army, but I never remember the name. : ) Either way, it's the notes even more than the writeup that I get tons of milage from; keep writing!
Jack's Deck build threadFantasy Geographic Society campaign web site
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Kylun

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

KYLUN (Colin McKay)
Created By:
Chris Claremont & Alan Davis
First Appearance: Excalibur #2 (child), #43 (Oct. 1992- adult)
Role: Sucky Power Guy, Swordfighter
Country of Origin: Scotland (adopted home- Ee'rath)
Group Affiliations: Excalibur, The Netherworlders
PL 9 (131), PL 10 (131) vs. Magic
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+12)
Athletics 4 (+7)
Close Combat (Swords) 1 (+12)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 3 (+4)
Perception 4 (+7)
Persuasion 5 (+6)
Stealth 2 (+7)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Benefit (Ambidexterity), Defensive Attack, Follow-Up Strike, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Swords) 2, Improved Disarm, Improved Smash, Power Attack, Set-Up, Takedown, Teamwork

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Duplicated Any Sound Heard, Leonine Form"

"Animal Senses" Senses 2 (Low-Light Vision, Acute Scent) [2]

"Mimicking Sounds He's Heard"
Illusion (Hearing) 10 (Flaws: Limited to Sounds He's Heard) [5]
"Lione's Roar" Enhanced Skills 4 & Advantages 1: Intimidation 4 (+8) & Startle [3]
Features 1: Mimicry- +10 to Deception/Perform to Convince Audience Sounds are Real [1]

"The Blades of Zz'ryia" (Flaws: Easily Removable -2) [20]
Nullify 10 (Magical Effects) (Extras: Simultaneous- All Magical Effects, Sustained +2) (Flaws: Touch Range) (30) -- (32 points)
  • AE: "Blade" Strength-Damage +3/+5 (Feats: Improved Critical) (Extras: Penetrating 12) (Flaws: Damage 3 & Pen. 8 only against non-Magical) (13)
  • AE: Deflect 12 (Extras: Reflection +2) (Flaws: Limited to Magical Attacks) (24)
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Swords +12 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Swords vs. Magic +12 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +4, Fortitude +8, Will +6

Complications:
Prejudice (Obvious Mutant)- With light brown fur all over his body, and cat-like eyes, Colin cannot pass for human.
Relationship (Sat'neen)- Kylun was engaged to his dimension's version of Saturnyne, but she died fighting Necrom.
Enemy (Necrom)- See above. Necrom was THE Big Bad of Kylun's world.
Power Loss (Swords)- Kylun's Swords will do no damage to those pure of heart or non-evil- the Swords will merely pass right through the target.

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 14 / Powers: 32 / Defenses: 15 (131)

-Kylun came fairly late into Claremont's run on Excalibur, and was gone before too long, making him one of those forgotten characters that is likely to get left off of nearly any list you can think of. He's a leonine-looking guy with Anti-Magic Swords, with one of those token "this is a silly add-on" powers. "Echoing any sound he's heard" is kind of neat in that "not every mutant power is gonna be cool, you know" way, but really makes him seem like a gag character. Like fellow teammate Cerise, he hasn't made a speaking appearance in about TWENTY YEARS, which is insane for an X-Character.

-Kylun hails from "Ee'rath", a fantasy-ish version of our Earth (remember, Excalibur was a book about world-hopping- Kylun was born on Earth, but ended up elsewhere), and was raised by a wizard in order to combat the evil Necrom. Necrom kill thousands, but Kylun eventually leads an army that chases the villain to a dimensional portal- with Kylun's beloved dying thanks to Necrom, he willingly follows his enemy to Earth-616, and quickly joins up with Excalibur to start the "Necrom Arc" that dominated the later "Alan Davis Years" of the book. Kylun helped in the battle, but it was Rachel "Phoenix" Summers that slew Necrom. He stuck around in the Excalibur book for a bit, but the book was cancelled in the mid-1990s to allow for the reunion of numerous X-Men characters to the "main books" (such as Kitty Pryde & Nightcrawler), and he basically disappeared with it. He last appeared for realz during the wedding of Captain Britain & Meggan, but hasn't shown up in any subsequent books.

-Kylun, like most substandard X-Characters, can get PL 9 and like it, with the bonus that he does extra damage to magic characters, which isn't a bad trade. He's a good Weapon Master type of build with some side effects, and the Features power (I was gonna go with a Limited Illusion, but Ultimate Power literally describes his exact power under "Features"). Since I've never seen an appearance by him, I had to go by Tattooed Man's build and my Marvel Cards/Wikipedia. Oddly, the Cards give his Strength as "3", which is between 800 lbs and 3 tons, but I see no other evidence of him having Super-Strength. He's good with the Blades (+12 Accuracy to +6 Damage), can modify most of his caps, and he can kick some ass, despite being low-powered for his team.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Feb 06, 2022 12:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Cerise

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

CERISE
Created By:
Alan Davis
First Appearance: Excalibur #46 (Jan. 1992)
Role: Miss Fanservice, Fish Out of Water Alien, Green Lantern Lite
Country of Origin: Shaskofrugnon World (settles in England)
Group Affiliations: Excalibur, The Graces (Gamora's Squad)
PL 9 (146)
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+6)
Expertise (Space Traveller) 4 (+6)
Insight 2 (+2)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Perception 5 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Light Attacks) 2 (+9)
Technology 2 (+4)
Vehicles 5 (+5)

Advantages:
Attractive, Defensive Attack, Equipment 4 (Hyperspace Transit Suit, Sensory Gloves), Improved Critical (Blast), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 7, Teamwork

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Red-Light Constructs"
Create Object 9 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Moveable) (27) -- [36]
  • Dynamic AE: "Red Blast" Blast 9 (19)
  • Dynamic AE: Force Field 5 (Feats: Increased Mass 4) (Extras: Affects Others 7) (Reduced Dodge & Parry -3) (11)
  • Dynamic AP: Move Object 8 (17)
  • Dynamic AE: "Constructed Weapon" Strength-Damage +2 (3)
  • AE: "Dazzle Visuals" Affliction 9 (Fort; Sight Impaired/Disabled/Unaware) (Extras: Cumulative, Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Limited to Vision) (18)
Flight 6 (120 mph) [12]

Equipment:
"Transit Suit" Immunity 10 (Life Support) (10)
"Sensory Gloves" Senses 9 (Detect Temporal Anomalies, Energy & Life Forms- Ranged & Acute) (9)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Construct Weapon +11 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Red Blast +9 (+9 Ranged Damage, DC 24)
Dazzle +9 Area (+9 Affliction, DC 19)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +5 (+10 Force Field), Fortitude +9, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (Fish out of Water)- Cerise is hardly unintelligent, but her alien upbringing leaves her a little mystified to the specifics of human culture. She did not know how babies were created, for instance, having "emerged from the source".
Relationship (Nightcrawler)

Total: Abilities: 52 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 49 / Defenses: 16 (146)

-Cerise joins Kylun in the "huh, forgot about these guys" range of Excalibur characters, since both were recruits back when Alan Davis took sole duties of the book's creative process, and were basically gone after a few arcs when he left, meaning their total runs lasted maybe a couple of years at-best. Cerise was actually pretty unique for Marvel, being a Green Lantern-power character with Create Objects and a few side-things based off of that, which is pretty cool, especially since they were a funny pink colour and she was a hot alien chick in pink armour. She actually reappeared in Annihilation: Conquest], as a person standing around the background with Gamora's Women Warriors, but she didn't actually SAY anything, which tells you how big SHE is nowadays.

-Cerise is basically like a Baby GL build with some combat readiness and overall good physical conditioning (since all aliens are apparently tougher than humans, everywhere in the universe). Not much more to her than that. She's a half-decent supporting character who's very handy in a team environment (Force Field + Affects Others), and a half-decent Blaster, too. I tossed all her Hyperspace crap & sensory powers into Equipment, since I think that stuff's kinda generic and it's unfair to charge beaucoup points because someone can detect energy.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Feb 23, 2022 12:10 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Captain Britain! Psylocke! Meggan! Kylun!)

Post by greycrusader »

I really enjoyed the original Excalibur run, with Claremont and Davis, and found the series even MORE fun to read after Davis took more or less total control. The unbridled absurdity and anything-goes nature of the stories were refreshing given how "dark and gritty" was beginning to spread throughout the industry by that point. The art and colors were upbeat and cheerful when even the inks of the day favored subdued and moody. And Davis even managed to wrap up most of the (far-too-long) dangling plot threads and convolutions Claremont couldn't seem to shake by then in his career. And yes, in hindsight I can recognize more of the flaws-too many bland, underdeveloped, "sketchpad" characters such as Cerise and Micromax, along with the walking deus ex machina of Meggan (whose power-set rivaled the Martian Manhunter's in both breadth and vagueness). Then there was Jamie Braddock...ugh. Just ugh. An all powerful reality warper who wandered around looking like a crack addict in an adult diaper. And the Sat-Y-9 as Courtney Ross thing went nowhere. But there was legitimate FUN to be had in Excalibur, and I appreciated that.

Speaking of which, even by comic book standards (where Superman has a "secret identity" by donning glasses), I remember thinking at the time Brian Braddock had to be an UTTER dunce not to recognize his life-long friend, sometime lover, and peer was an exact physical doppelganger of his old arch-foe-hell, this was even lampshaded in the book where Captain Britain himself exclaimed he had never noticed the two were counterparts before then. Now, I admit prior to the introduction of the story line, I as a reader just assumed the two women looked alike (save for clothes, makeup, and hairdo) because they were both comely young blonde white women, and most artists just draw the same face and body type just about every time. But Davis, like Perez, actually depicts female characters with DIFFERENT features and physiques! He can even do ages besides little kid, teen, adult, and elderly.

(Note: Adam Hughes comes to mind here as a great "same face" example-he posted some recent commissions online recently, and they were ALL THE SAME WOMEN-Spider-Gwen, MJ, Scarlet Witch, etc, etc-just different hair. Pristine line work, wonderfully rendered, but all identical.)

Oddly, despite having a pretty respectable run, just about NONE of the original characters created for the book had any staying power-the series is right up there with the Peter David decade long Hulk book in that regard. Basically it was too self-contained and isolated to have any impact in the MU, despite featuring a couple popular X-men much of the time.

The recent "power-geeking" of Captain Britain (which I haven't read, I admit)...yeah, that's a really lazy way to establish character credibility. The better writers do more with what is already present in the characters. Over at DC (where I've mostly been enjoying REBIRTH quite a bit), a Venom-pumped up Bane is back as in a "Big Bad" role, and promptly tears through nearly all Batman's rogues save for the real A-Listers, even punching out Amgdala (alright, that's a PL 8 jobber there) and SOLOMON GRUNDY at the same time, and taking out Hush, Two-Face, and Zzasaz in short order. But it was waaaay more impressive when Gail Simone used the character in Secret Six and demonstrated his toughness in a scene where Bane is being tortured-sandstone bricks being thrown at his chest-and when given the chance to sell out his time, he not only refuses but tells the torturers to stop wasting time and GET ON WITH IT, even correcting them when they over-count the bricks thrown at him already.

All my best.
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Ares
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Re: Cerise

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2017 12:07 am Image

CERISE
Created By:
Alan Davis
Hubba hubba.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Re: Jab's Builds! (Captain Britain! Psylocke! Meggan! Kylun!)

Post by Jabroniville »

greycrusader wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2017 3:06 am I really enjoyed the original Excalibur run, with Claremont and Davis, and found the series even MORE fun to read after Davis took more or less total control. The unbridled absurdity and anything-goes nature of the stories were refreshing given how "dark and gritty" was beginning to spread throughout the industry by that point. The art and colors were upbeat and cheerful when even the inks of the day favored subdued and moody. And Davis even managed to wrap up most of the (far-too-long) dangling plot threads and convolutions Claremont couldn't seem to shake by then in his career. And yes, in hindsight I can recognize more of the flaws-too many bland, underdeveloped, "sketchpad" characters such as Cerise and Micromax, along with the walking deus ex machina of Meggan (whose power-set rivaled the Martian Manhunter's in both breadth and vagueness). Then there was Jamie Braddock...ugh. Just ugh. An all powerful reality warper who wandered around looking like a crack addict in an adult diaper. And the Sat-Y-9 as Courtney Ross thing went nowhere. But there was legitimate FUN to be had in Excalibur, and I appreciated that.

Speaking of which, even by comic book standards (where Superman has a "secret identity" by donning glasses), I remember thinking at the time Brian Braddock had to be an UTTER dunce not to recognize his life-long friend, sometime lover, and peer was an exact physical doppelganger of his old arch-foe-hell, this was even lampshaded in the book where Captain Britain himself exclaimed he had never noticed the two were counterparts before then. Now, I admit prior to the introduction of the story line, I as a reader just assumed the two women looked alike (save for clothes, makeup, and hairdo) because they were both comely young blonde white women, and most artists just draw the same face and body type just about every time. But Davis, like Perez, actually depicts female characters with DIFFERENT features and physiques! He can even do ages besides little kid, teen, adult, and elderly.

(Note: Adam Hughes comes to mind here as a great "same face" example-he posted some recent commissions online recently, and they were ALL THE SAME WOMEN-Spider-Gwen, MJ, Scarlet Witch, etc, etc-just different hair. Pristine line work, wonderfully rendered, but all identical.)

Oddly, despite having a pretty respectable run, just about NONE of the original characters created for the book had any staying power-the series is right up there with the Peter David decade long Hulk book in that regard. Basically it was too self-contained and isolated to have any impact in the MU, despite featuring a couple popular X-men much of the time.

The recent "power-geeking" of Captain Britain (which I haven't read, I admit)...yeah, that's a really lazy way to establish character credibility. The better writers do more with what is already present in the characters. Over at DC (where I've mostly been enjoying REBIRTH quite a bit), a Venom-pumped up Bane is back as in a "Big Bad" role, and promptly tears through nearly all Batman's rogues save for the real A-Listers, even punching out Amgdala (alright, that's a PL 8 jobber there) and SOLOMON GRUNDY at the same time, and taking out Hush, Two-Face, and Zzasaz in short order. But it was waaaay more impressive when Gail Simone used the character in Secret Six and demonstrated his toughness in a scene where Bane is being tortured-sandstone bricks being thrown at his chest-and when given the chance to sell out his time, he not only refuses but tells the torturers to stop wasting time and GET ON WITH IT, even correcting them when they over-count the bricks thrown at him already.

All my best.
You're the second one to point out the book's silliness stood out in an era of grim stuff- I think you both have a point, there. Especially with Claremont's X-Men, this book stood apart. I can see how something tiresome to me now would have seemed refreshing back then. And there's silly books I've liked since then: Aaron's Wolverine and the X-Men, Ewing's AIMvengers book, etc. The modern ones are more satirical, which is why I like them more, but to each their own.

Agreed entirely about that Bane scene- Simone went a LONG way towards reviving that character, and without something "easy" like "Bane beats up dozens of guys" or "other characters talk about how bad-ass Bane is now" (something Simone was guilty as hell of in the same book). Even my friend was talking to me about how awesome Bane was in that.
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Bladewind
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Captain Britain! Psylocke! Meggan! Kylun!)

Post by Bladewind »

I remember Cerise's first appearance... they were actually parodying themselves to some extent in that they the Technet were so wacky and crazy stuff just kept happening, and then Cerise appeared...

Image

Funky insect-like alien armour... despite her innate power which was enough to lift, animate and propel the shell of a Sentinel with the team inside...
Thorpocalypse wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:01 pm Building to be comics "accurate" is different than building to run a PC or building something to challenge a group.
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L-Space
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Cameron Hodge! Captain Britain! Psylocke!)

Post by L-Space »

Ares wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2017 4:56 amFrom what I understand, Brian no longer needs to worry about the "British Connection", with his powers now being drawn from "the friction of mystical dimensions" or something similar, basically giving him all the power he needs, wherever he is, so long as he has faith in himself.
I'm not sure why but I always really liked the Captain Britain's 'confidence = power level' idea. It seemed like a neat idea that would allow him to face different power level worth of foes without suspending believe too much. I actually had thought about submitting a "Captain Marvel(DC) meets Captain Britain" character for one of the PBP games on here, but decided against due to time restraints.
Ares wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2017 4:56 amAnd personally, my preferred outfit for Brian would be something like this:

Image
I like that look quite a bit!
Image
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Nightcrawler

Post by Jabroniville »

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Image
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NIGHTCRAWLER (Kurt Wagner)
Created By:
Len Wein & Dave Cockrum
First Appearance: Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975)
Role: The Swashbuckler, Teleporter, Lady Bait, The Fun Guy
Country of Origin: Germany
Group Affiliations: The X-Men, Excalibur, The Catholic Church
PL 10 (179)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 10
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 9 (+19)
Athletics 4 (+6)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 3 (+13)
Close Combat (Swords) 3 (+13)
Deception 2 (+5)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 2 (+4)
Expertise (Catholic Priest) 7 (+9)
Insight 4 (+7)
Perception 5 (+8)
Persuasion 4 (+7)
Sleight of Hand 5 (+5)
Stealth 4 (+14)
Technology 2 (+4)
Vehicles 6 (+6)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Benefit (Ambidexterity), Daze (Deception), Defensive Roll, Equipment 2 (3 Swords), Evasion 2, Fast Grab, Improved Critical 2 (Unarmed, Sword), Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Instant Up, Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 5, Second Chance (Falling), Seize Initiative, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics), Set-Up, Takedown 2, Teamwork, Ultimate Acrobatics Skill, Uncanny Dodge

Powers:
“Mutant Powers: Teleportation & Night-Living”
"BAMF!" Teleport 2 (Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Increased Mass 3- 400 lbs., Turnabout) (Extras: Extended- 4 miles) [12]

"Hit Everyone" Strength-Damage +0 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst 4, Selective 4) (8) -- [9]
  • AE: "Nauseating 'Port" Affliction 8 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Flaws: Tiring) (4)
Movement 2 (Sure-Footed, Wall-Crawling) [4]
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]
Speed 1 (4 mph) [1]
"Prehensile Tail" Extra Limb 1 [1]

"Creature of the Night"
Senses 1 (Low-Light Vision) [1]
"Blending into the Shadows" Concealment 2 (Visual Senses) (Flaws: Limited to Darkness, Blending) [1]

Equipment:
"Triple-Rapiers" Strength-Damage +2 (Extras: Multiattack 4) (Inaccurate -1) (5)
  • AE: "Rapiers" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Split 2) (4)
Offense:
Unarmed +13 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Rapiers +13 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Triple-Rapiers +11 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +14

Defenses:
Dodge +15 (DC 25), Parry +14 (DC 24), Toughness +4 (+5 D.Roll), Fortitude +6, Will +8

Complications:
Relationship (Various)- Kurt is... kind of a pimp, really. He was with his stepsister (... ew?) Amanda Sefton for many years. He's also crushed on teammate Meggan, and dated Cerise.
Prejudice (Obvious Mutant)- Without an Image Inducer, Kurt is among the more obvious mutants out there, with dark blue fur all over his body, and a tail.
Responsibility (Catholic Priest)- Nightcrawler is extremely devoted to religion, and is heavily-involved with the Catholic church.
Weakness (Excess Teleportation)- If Kurt Teleports extensively more than a few times, he will become Fatigued. Going North/South is also easier than East/West, thanks to the magnetic lines of the Earth.
Quirk (Stench)- Nightcrawler's Teleport makes a "BAMF!" noise and leaves behind the smell of rotten eggs. As such, it's a little tricky to be stealthy with it, and others will know where he's been.
Relationship (Parents)- Kurt's mother is the evil shapeshifter Mystique, and his father the evil Hell-borne Demon Azazel- he does not get along with either of them.

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 60--30 / Advantages: 33 / Powers: 30 / Defenses: 16 (179)

Nightcrawler- The Quirky X-Man:
-What can ya say about Kurt Wagner? Such an iconic look and weird power-set are truly unique in comics, which has gone a great deal towards making him one of the most popular X-Men of all time, particularly since he is the weakest member out of practically the ENTIRE roster (think about it: with the least offensively-useful power, he's just a kinda-tough guy who teleports and maybe uses rapiers sometimes). And yet, being the one guy who was happy with his lot in life (as opposed to self-pitying Scott, moody Jean, aging Banshee, bitter Wolverine, sad Peter & angry Kitty) made him stand out from the crowd even more than his weird appearance did.

-You know you're pretty cool when even your creator is basically in love with you. Dave Cockrum used Kurt as his 'net avatar for years before he died, and proudly took his little creation from DC to Marvel (Nightcrawler was originally an alien supposed to be in a Cockrum-drawn Legion of Super-Heroes Spin-Off... but deemed "too alien", so he just kept the design woth him and took it to Marvel Comics instead), something I'm sure DC was QUITE pleased with after the X-Books became not only the most popular books at Marvel, but an industry-defining icon. Claremont & Byrne used to joke that Cockrum, who was co-creator with Claremont for quite some time, was so in love with the character that he continuously would add new powers to Kurt's repertoire- though I think the only time that REALLY happened was the weird Night-Blending, which almost never comes up. Oddly, Dave hated the religious aspect the character took on; he imagined Kurt to be the happy-go-lucky Errol Flynn-worshipping swashbuckler of the team, not a serious worshipper-type.

-Me, I liked Kurt, but I didn't get alot of access to him as a kid. See, when *I* was a lad, it was the Gold & Blue Strike Force era of the team, and Kurt had been out of the X-books for upwards of five/six years by that point. Hell, I was barely even aware he WAS an X-Man, such was his status as an "Excalibur Guy". Especially since I didn't get Excalibur, since it was only in the specialty shop, which was across town, as opposed to the easy-access London Drugs & Mac's stores a block away from my home. So yeah, no Nightcrawler for me. It was actually very weird for me to see Kurt show up as an X-Man, as he usually wasn't even involved in CROSS-OVERS.

Nightcrawler's History:
-Nightcrawler first appears being chased by an angry mob, complete with torches (where in Hell would you even GET a torch, these days?)- of all the X-Men, he's the only one who can't "pass". His blue fur, yellow eyes, tail and three-fingered extremities mark him as something otherworldly and "alien".

-Despite his appearance, however, Kurt seemed perfectly happy with his lot in life. While the others were saddled with angst, Kurt was fun loving and even gleeful at times. Claremont included a small bit where Kurt proclaimed a belief in Christianity- Catholicism, to be exact. This was unusual in the generally secular world of comic books, but was not focused on.

-Kurt would be removed from the X-Men book after some time (he was injured by Riptide of The Marauders), and found Excalibur with Kitty Pryde & Racel Summers. This kept him from his debut book for more than ten years, but managed to save him from most of the grittiness that later came to typify that book. He goes through a flirtatious relationship with Meggan, date Cerise, and do a big thing with his stepsister Amanda Sefton- Kurt was always good with the ladies. Even real life female readers seemed to love his strange appearance.

Modern Nightcrawler:

-Kurt eventually rejoined the X-Men, ignoring pretty much the entirety of his history with Excalibur. He was even made team leader of a squad... except this was of course Chuck Austen's run of the books, which piled on some incredibly stupid stuff.

-Marvel FINALLY revealed his true parentage, after decades of hemming and hawing over it (Claremont wanted Mystique to have shapechanged into a dude to impregnate Destiny- Marvel kiboshed that one in a hurry; his other idea was to have his father be Nightmare, but the Dr. Strange editor refused to just give up one of his main villains like that). Of course, most people were unenthused when his daddy turned out to be a red demon named Azazel (though the X-Men: First Class film actually ended up using the guy).

-This ball of dumb even led to Kurt getting one of those modern-day "refreshment deaths", where a character croaks for a couple of years, allowing them to pop sales for a while when they return, while he sits on the shelf for a while instead of being just "filler" for writers who don't know what to do with him. Essentially, the death merely "refreshes" a character instead of being a major, dramatic story. It'd be smart if it hadn't completely finished off the idea that death meant something in comics (which wasn't exactly in good shape to begin with!). Killed in battle with Bastion, he nonetheless hung out in Heaven for a while (one of the few characters to ever actually be seen in the afterlife).

-Kurt naturally returned, dealt with his father, and even got a solo book written by Claremont! However, it was quickly cancelled and the character just got slotted into one of many X-books that were now floating around. The character's death has basically meant nothing.

Nightcrawler As A Whole:
-Kurt remains one of the most popular X-Men in supporting materials, owing to his appearance and action-focused powers. The second X-Men film, and X-Men Evolution cartoon series and more have used him as a major character- few guys stand so apart visually. He's still the best guy to use for the whole "not all mutants look human" concept. And before they made him half-demon, he made for a good "don't judge by appearances" story. Now, he's just another "one good member of an evil race" guy.

Kurt's Stats:

-For powers, Kurt is only barely a PL 10 in many ways (basically being a fast, accurate guy who doesn't even match his PL offensively), focused around being hard to hit, and being very good at fighting. He's quite strong (his tail can lift people off the ground) and fairly tough for a human-level guy, and his Teleport is arguably the weakest in all of comics, since the writers were VERY, VERY CAREFUL not to have him be a "Team Game-Breaker" able to just get the whole team out of every possible situation- even 'Porting a teammate out of a situation would leave him exhausted, and he had tremendous difficulty with range and even teleporting behind things if he didn't know what was on the other side (this makes his Teleport only rank 2- he has to go Extended to bring it to full strength). He's a fantastic team player though, designed to avoid any blows being rained down on him while distracting the enemy and hitting a bunch of times, even with THREE Rapiers if necessary.

-He gets a ton of extra powers as well, since there was a point in the early X-Books that Dave Cockrum added a new power seemingly every other month. John Byrne even joked that the staff called it "Nightcrawler and Friends" for a while, but it's John Byrne (who even Cockrum's widow has gone out on a limb and called a gigantic piece of human waste who frequently lied about anything and everything to make himself look better), so who knows? In any case, he's got a swack of miniature powers out there, from low-level Blending in the dark, to Wall-Crawling, to a Tail, to his weird Nauseating Attack that brutally tires him out.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Sep 04, 2022 4:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Meggan! Kylun! Cerise! Nightcrawler!)

Post by Jabroniville »

so what's everyone think of Nightcrawler becoming "the religious guy"? Personally, I see Cockrum's point. Though I guess Claremont just wanted SOMEONE on the team to be faithful, and other writers ran with it. I don't recall Claremont's run featuring a ton of religiosity.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Meggan! Kylun! Cerise! Nightcrawler!)

Post by Spectrum »

From a rather small sample size, it makes a lot of sense for Nightcrawler to have some kind of faith but not necessarily Catholic or even Christian. He comes from generic Eastern Europe which has some real religious themes.. being taken for a demon could make you either want to refute that and prove your worth or make you very antitheist. I could also see him becoming deeply involved in one of the old religions. I'd normally say that they would never do that but.. Thor.

To make Nightcrawler push for popehood.. errr.. what? Now that comes from complete left field.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Meggan! Kylun! Cerise! Nightcrawler!)

Post by Shock »

I think it did a lot to give him character beyond being "the weird looking guy." And it was nice that he wasn't always on about "I am a monster. Woe is me!"
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Meggan! Kylun! Cerise! Nightcrawler!)

Post by Ares »

I always liked Kurt. And I don't see any contradiction between him being a happy-go-lucky, daring romantic and someone who was devoutly religious. There is no one "religious personality", spiritual people are just as diverse as anyone else. You can have someone who takes comfort from his faith, let it help keep his humility and humanity in spite of his appearance, and helped him keep a positive outlook on life. Kurt seems like the type to thank God for the life he has, rather than fall deep into guilt like Daredevil.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Meggan! Kylun! Cerise! Nightcrawler!)

Post by L-Space »

Jabroniville wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:54 am so what's everyone think of Nightcrawler becoming "the religious guy"? Personally, I see Cockrum's point. Though I guess Claremont just wanted SOMEONE on the team to be faithful, and other writers ran with it. I don't recall Claremont's run featuring a ton of religiosity.
I didn't mind him being religious because he was never pushy with it. His faith just gave him comfort and helped him through the tough times in his life.
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