Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
SolarOracle
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Gymkhana Girl

Post by SolarOracle »

Image

Role: Equestrian Hero, Tiny Fish in a Big Pond

Gymkhana Girl

Identity: Unknown.
Gender: Female.
Age: Unknown.
Height: Unknown.
Weight: Unknown.
Eyes: Brown.
Hair: Brown.
Skin: Fair.
Group: Angel Summoner and Gymkhana Girl.
Base of Operations: Unknown, presumably the UK.

Power Level 5 - 63 Character Points

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

Gear
Horsewhip: Strength-based Damage 1. (1)

Advantages
Close Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment, Minion 4 (Racehorse)

Skills
Athletics 4
(+5 total).
Athletics 8 (+13 total) (Flaws: Limited to Riding).
Close Combat (Horsewhip) 2 (+7 total).
Deception 2 (+3 total).
Expertise (Equestrianism) 6 (+7 total).
Expertise (Animal Handling) 4 (+5 total).
Insight 2 (+3 total).
Perception 6 (+7 total).
Persuasion 2 (+3 total).

Offense
Initiative +2
Unarmed
+5, close damage 1.
Horsewhip +7, close damage 2.

Defense
Dodge 6, Fortitude 5, Parry 6, Toughness 3/4*, Will 4
*4 with defensive roll.

Complications

Redundant: Compared to Angel Summoner and his great powers, Gymkhana Girl is very limited in what she can do, and this is presumably difficult for the duo.

28 Abilities, 0 Powers, 7 Advantages, 16 Skills, 12 Defenses = 63 Character Points


About: To complete this set, here's a completely speculative build on Gymkhana Girl, Angel Summoner's new crime-fighting partner after BMX Bandit plummeted to his death.

Gymkhana Girl only really appears as the closing gag at the end of the final sketch, where the joke is that Angel Summoner is partnering with someone as redundant as BMX Bandit, which will presumably lead to the same that happened before all over again.

I decided this would be a fun build to do purely because I like the idea of an equestrianism-based hero. Gymkhana Girl fights with a horsewhip and has her racehorse as a minion, assisting her with her crimefighting. A build for that horse is included later in this post, which is just a slightly modified version of Jab's Racehorse build from his Animal Builds thread, tho I adjusted its Minion price to 4, since I don't know why Jab listed it as 3, LOL.

All in all, Ghymkhana Girl is a PL 5, like BMX Bandit, but has only a PL 4.5 attack, since her whip cannot strike as powerfully as a huge-ass bike. She has pretty OK skills as well, similarly to BMX Bandit, but still isn't capable enough to not end up being completely useless compared to how overpower Angel Summoner is.

Outfits: Gymkhana Girl wears horse-riding gear, like a black leather jacket and gloves, a white shirt with a turtleneck and a black hat. She has a white sash on her left arm with the initials "GG" embroidered in red.


Image

Racehorse

Power Level 5 (PL 6 Fortitude and Will)
- 50 Character Points

Abilities
Strength 5*, Agility 1, Fighting 4, Awareness 1
Stamina 6*, Dexterity 0, Intellect -4, Presence -2
*+2 due to size.

Powers
Animal Senses: Senses 3 (Acute Scent, Low-Light Vision, Radius Sight). [3]
Animal Physiology: Speed 3 (30 Km/H or 16 MpH) [3]

Natural Size: Growth 2 (Strength and Stamina +2, Mass +2, Intimidation +1, Dodge and Parry -1, -Stealth -2) (Extras: Innate, Permanent). [5]

Advantages
All-out Attack, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Hooves), Power Attack

Skills
Athletics 10 (+15 total).
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+5 total).
Expertise (Survival) 2 (+3 total).
Insight 3 (+4 total).
Intimidation 6 (+4 total, +5 size).
Perception 4 (+5 total).
Stealth 0 (+1 total, -1 size).

Offense
Initiative +1
Unarmed
+5, close damage 5, critical 19-20.

Defense
Dodge 2*, Fortitude 8*, Parry 4*, Toughness 6*, Will 4
*Changed due to size.

Complications

Motivation: Loyalty: Gymkhana Girl’s horse, as a well trained competition horse, is obedient to her.

Disabled: Animal: Horses cannot speak to humans, nor use their hooves to easily manipulate objects.

14 Abilities, 11 Powers, 4 Advantages, 13 Skills, 8 Defenses = 50 Character Points
Last edited by SolarOracle on Tue Mar 14, 2023 12:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
SolarOracle
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Death Note

Post by SolarOracle »

Image
Image

Death Note is a famous manga series that ran from 2003 to 2006 on Shonen Jump, considered THE hallmark seinen manga from that magazine. It's mainly a story about power, corruptibility, Machiavellianism, tyranny and, ultimately, of humanity.

The story is centered on Yagami Light, a Japanese teenage prodigy who is extremely bored and frustrated with life, seeing it all as too easy and boring, but still finding himself unable to do anything tangible to impact the world. One day, however, he runs into a mysterious black notebook that fell from the skies, and as he inspects it, he is shocked and tempted by the words written within its first page: "The human whose name is written in this note shall die."

This kickstarts the events of the series, as Light uses the power he has acquired in an attempt to create a world free of crime and evil, killing every criminal that is arrested with his Death Note, creating the legend of "Kira", the new god of justice of this world. Through this, Light discovers about the Shinigami, the Gods of Death who use their Death Notes to decide when and how other humans will die, and discovers that his own Death Note came from Ryuk, a Shinigami who was bored withy the mundanity of it all and wanted to see what a human would do when given absolute power, and follows Light as an observer, interested in seeing the results of his pursuits and what will come of Light's decision to use his power in such a way.

His acts also, however, attract the unwanted attention of law enforcement, as they are baffled by how every criminal keeps unexplainably dying, and start a manhunt after this "Kira", lead by the mysterious and talented world-famous anonymous detective only known as "L". Soon, the story becomes a curious cat and mouse game between Light and those who want to stop him, as L and his taskforce make stride after stride and keep the pressure on Light, who needs to figure out how to outwit them, in a battle between two very different and twisted ideas of what "Justice" is, and how power should be wielded.

Death Note is one of those manga series that everyone knows about to some extent, and it's an absolute masterpiece that managed to have me deeply enthralled by it all the way through to the end on every single one of the times I read it, even when knowing every twist. It is a beautiful story about how the road to hell is paved with good intentions and how one must be able to use power responsibly, and a cautionary tale about how our ego can be our worst enemy, even making us think we are infallible gods even as doing the most cruel and unethical things.

I first watched the anime when I was a kid in 2010 or so, as you would be basically crucified by the anime fandom at the time if you weren't familiar with the series, and honestly, I wasn't a fan at the time, as someone who was only used to watching and reading super-powers-based fighting stories about the power of friendship and stuff, so the slow pacing and lack of action made me insanely boring to the point I couldn't fully absorb the content of each episode. Thankfully, I revisited it as a manga a few years later and managed to finally fall in love with the story I saw people praising so much years in the past, and having re-read it most recently back in 2020, I dare say it still holds up. Tho I know a lot modern anime fans think it's a bit too edgy and up its own ass, which are complaints I totally get, but can look past due to how good the storytelling and themes are.

Death Note Builds
A while back, maybe last year I think, while walking my dog, I kept thinking about how the Death Note could be built in M&M as a fun challenge to keep me distracted while walking. I ended up having a lot of fun with it, and decided to actually put that effort to paper by making a build for the notebook, so I might as well post it here.

I don't really have that much of an interest in posting builds for characters within the series, since there isn't much to them. An L build seems fun and a Kira build could work, but other than that, it doesn't really seem like something good to build and discuss about on this thread. Maybe someday tho, if I re-read it again and feel really in the mood, LOL.
MarvelLion
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Re: Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Post by MarvelLion »

Gotta’ love Death Note. I personally don’t think the series itself is too edgy or up its own ass, but a lot its diehard fans are. Specifically, the ones who insist that Light did nothing wrong. Having spoken to some of those fans (One was more than enough, honestly.), they completely missed a lot of the themes, messages, and symbolism, and simply enjoyed the thought of having the kind of power that Light had. They never thought of or let themselves realize the huge downsides of one person (A narcissist and sociopath at that.) being Jugdge Judy and executioner.
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Davies
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Re: Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Post by Davies »

I look forward to seeing what you do with this concept; the conclusion I came to, quite a while ago, was that it was impossible to do a direct adaptation of the Note in any system that doesn't allow irresistible attacks.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
SolarOracle
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Re: Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Post by SolarOracle »

MarvelLion wrote: Wed Feb 08, 2023 12:15 pm Gotta’ love Death Note. I personally don’t think the series itself is too edgy or up its own ass, but a lot its diehard fans are. Specifically, the ones who insist that Light did nothing wrong. Having spoken to some of those fans (One was more than enough, honestly.), they completely missed a lot of the themes, messages, and symbolism, and simply enjoyed the thought of having the kind of power that Light had. They never thought of or let themselves realize the huge downsides of one person (A narcissist and sociopath at that.) being Jugdge Judy and executioner.
For whatever reason, a lot of people present the series through a weird "Whose side are you on? Light or L?" lens that I always hated, even back when I first read through the manga. It's a weird an infantile oversimplification of the series that takes away any and all depth from the story, rendering a psychological piece on the pursuit of justice and how it can mean different and very twisted things, depending on who you ask, into some dumb "Red Team vs Blue Team" mentality and that is very frustrating.
Davies wrote: Wed Feb 08, 2023 6:07 pm I look forward to seeing what you do with this concept; the conclusion I came to, quite a while ago, was that it was impossible to do a direct adaptation of the Note in any system that doesn't allow irresistible attacks.
Hope not to disappoint then, LOL. I just kind of took a simple "Damage, but better" approach to it, the real tricky part was figuring out a way for it to be able to target "beyond" perception range and stuff.
MarvelLion
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Re: Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Post by MarvelLion »

SolarOracle wrote: Wed Feb 08, 2023 11:28 pm
MarvelLion wrote: Wed Feb 08, 2023 12:15 pm Gotta’ love Death Note. I personally don’t think the series itself is too edgy or up its own ass, but a lot its diehard fans are. Specifically, the ones who insist that Light did nothing wrong. Having spoken to some of those fans (One was more than enough, honestly.), they completely missed a lot of the themes, messages, and symbolism, and simply enjoyed the thought of having the kind of power that Light had. They never thought of or let themselves realize the huge downsides of one person (A narcissist and sociopath at that.) being Jugdge Judy and executioner.
For whatever reason, a lot of people present the series through a weird "Whose side are you on? Light or L?" lens that I always hated, even back when I first read through the manga. It's a weird an infantile oversimplification of the series that takes away any and all depth from the story, rendering a psychological piece on the pursuit of justice and how it can mean different and very twisted things, depending on who you ask, into some dumb "Red Team vs Blue Team" mentality and that is very frustrating.
I agree.
Though, I am guilty of having a “team” in the series: Soichiro, Light’s father. Hands down, my favorite character in the series! #TeamSoichiro
SolarOracle
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Death Note

Post by SolarOracle »

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Death Notes
Role: The Ultimate Bathroom Psychic Tool

Death Note: (Flaws: Easily Removable). [174]
The Human Whose Name Is Written In This Note Shall Die: Perception Range Affliction 22 (Dazed/Compelled/Controlled) (Extras: Continuous, Dimensional 3 - All Dimensions, Subtle, Triggered 5 - Specified Time, Variable Descriptor 2 - Causes of Death) (Flaws: Limited to Humans, Limited to Target Being Unable To Take Other Lives or Do Anything They Wouldn't Conceivably Do, Quirk - Requires Target’s Name), linked to Perception Range Damage 22 (Extras: Dimensional 3 - All Dimensions, Subtle, Triggered 5 - Specified Time, Variable Descriptor 2 - Causes of Death) (Flaws: Limited to Humans, Quirk - Requires Target’s Name), linked to Perception Range Weaken Stamina 22 (Extras: Dimensional 3 - All Dimensions, Subtle, Triggered 5 - Specified Time, Variable Descriptor 2 - Causes of Death) (Flaws: Limited to Humans, Quirk - Requires Target’s Name), linked to Senses 17 (Accurate, Counters Concealment 5, Radius, Extended 8, Ranged Detect Others) (Extras: Dimensional 3 - All Dimensions) (Flaws: Limited to targeting with Death Note). (218)

About: The eponymous death notes are the tools of the Shinigami to decide the fate of humans, as any human whose name is written in the black notebook will die, suffering whatever fate was specified by the Death Note's wielder, or simply die of a heart attack if no cause or time of death is written within 40 seconds.

Death notes, as powerful as they are, have a lot of rules, complications and general minucia associated with them (67 rules in total, detailed amd elaborated in the omake after every chapter), like how you need to visualize the face of the person whose name you are writing for the book to be able to take effect. Other interesting rules are that death notes have infinite pages, that any human who uses a death note will be unable to go to Heaven or Hell after dying, that humans who touch a death note become able to see Shinigami, or how humans who use a death note will be possessed and followed by a Shinigami.

How the death notes are made is a mystery, and it's only known that they are created by the Shinigami King, the lord of the Shinigami Realm who commands other Shinigami. Shinigami have their lifespans tied to how many human lives they've taken, adding however much lifespan that person still had to their own lifespan, and thus, must use their death notes to continue to live. Humans, however, don't really have any direct personal benefit from using a death note.

The main death note used throughout the series is Light's and originally belonged to a Shinigami named Sidoh. Sidoh's death note ended up in Ryuk's possession after he lost it, and Ryuk, bored with mundanity, dropped it in the human world to see what would happen, following Light around after he picked it up and explaining the workings of the book and the Shinigami Realm to him, as Light decided to use the book as a tool to achieve his ideal world, free of crime and suffering, by using his newfound powers to kill whoever broke the law.

Through a lot of complicated events, Sidoh would eventually recover his death note and return to the Shinigami Realm, as only pieces of paper from it are left behind in the human world, used by Light in the end portion of the story. Other death notes appear throughout the series, like the one that originally belonged to the Shinigami Gelus, which was primarily used by Misa in the first half of the story, and the one belonging to Rem, a Shinigami who accompanied Misa, as she was a close friend of Gelus. Additionally, of course, Ryuk had his own death note with him throughout the whole story, but it went unused until the very final chapter.

As for the build itself, that massive and confusing text wall was the best solution I could find to making a death note with Mutants and Masterminds rules: that is to say, it works through pure jank!

The death notes deal massive damage and Weaken Stamina effects, effectively being a "Damage, but better" effect, able to kill pretty much any human with its effects at PL 22, and being able to target across dimensions, as the Shinigami would use it on humans even while still in the Shinigami Realm. It has the Subtle modifier, as there is no clear indication the target was a victim of the death note, can be set as Triggered to whatever specified condition the user desires, and having a very broad range of Variable Descriptors, as the cause of death can be anything the user wants it to be. It's only downsides is its weakness of being unable to target non-humans and that the user needs to know the target's name and face for it to take effect.

The more interesting part of the build however is how it is able to target those that the user cannot perceive, as I gave it a Limited sense effect allowing the user to "perceive" the target no matter where they are (having a RIDICULOUS Extended Range, able to see into other planets even), but having the catch that the user is only able to perceive them for the purpose of targeting with the death note's effect, effectively serving as a "fake sense effect" for the purpose of being able to kill any human, no matter where they are. I am insanely proud of being able to assemble that convoluted mess of an effect as a solution to this dilemma, LOL.

Edit from a couple days in the future: I somehow forgot one of the death notes most important effects on the build, the ability to impose a certain level of control over the targets actions based on the instructions left on the notebook surrounding their cause of death. I added that as a simple Continuous Affliction effect, tho that has MASSIVELY inflated the price of the death note as a build.
Last edited by SolarOracle on Tue Mar 14, 2023 12:29 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Davies
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Re: Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Post by Davies »

Gyaaaaaaah.

PL 22?!?
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
SolarOracle
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Re: Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Post by SolarOracle »

Davies wrote: Thu Feb 09, 2023 2:20 am Gyaaaaaaah.

PL 22?!?
LOL, maybe a bit overkill, yeah, but I really wanted it to reflect the "absoluteness" of the death note's rules, making sure it was able to kill even high PL humans and stuff.

Honestly, the funniest part about this is that this is technically not even the highest PL build on my thread, thanks to my Saitama build. X D
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Re: Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Post by Jabroniville »

Wow, I'm shocked it only lasted three years. I remember people ALWAYS talking about it but I knew almost nothing about it save the characters' names, and how everyone was fapping over how great a planner one or the other was. But I guess 3 years is a lot more typical than the "this manga runs for an eternity" stuff- hell, even Sailor Moon only ran 5 years, and most of that was at the insistence of editors making it longer and longer (it was gonna be only 1-2 years).

The whole "attack that always works" thing pops up a LOT in anime/manga, and yeah, it's a tricky thing in an RPG. The "just shove so many ranks onto it that nobody can resist it" thing is the only way it really works, like The Word in Preacher.
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OwOMotaros
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Re: Death Note

Post by OwOMotaros »

SolarOracle wrote: Thu Feb 09, 2023 12:43 am Death Notes
Role: The ultimate Bathroom Psychic tool

Death Note: (Flaws: Easily Removable). [72]
The Human Whose Name Is Written In This Note Shall Die: Perception Range Damage 22 (Extras: Dimensional 3 - All Dimensions, Subtle, Triggered 5 - Specified Time, Variable Descriptor 2 - Causes of Death) (Flaws: Limited to Humans, Quirk - Requires Target’s Name), linked to Perception Range Weaken Stamina 22 (Extras: Dimensional 3 - All Dimensions, Subtle, Triggered 5 - Specified Time, Variable Descriptor 2 - Causes of Death) (Flaws: Limited to Humans, Quirk - Requires Target’s Name), linked to Senses 17 (Accurate, Counters Concealment 5, Radius, Extended 8, Ranged Detect Others) (Extras: Dimensional 3 - All Dimensions) (Flaws: Limited to targeting with Death Note). (120)

The death notes deal massive damage and Weaken Stamina effects, effectively being a "Damage, but better" effect, able to kill pretty much any human with its effects at PL 22, and being able to target across dimensions, as the Shinigami would use it on humans even while still in the Shinigami Realm. It has the Subtle modifier, as there is no clear indication the target was a victim of the death note, can be set as Triggered to whatever specified condition the user desires, and having a very broad range of Variable Descriptors, as the cause of death can be anything the user wants it to be. It's only downsides is its weakness of being unable to target non-humans and that the user needs to know the target's name and face for it to take effect.

The more interesting part of the build however is how it is able to target those that the user cannot perceive, as I gave it a Limited sense effect allowing the user to "perceive" the target no matter where they are (having a RIDICULOUS Extended Range, able to see into other planets even), but having the catch that the user is only able to perceive them for the purpose of targeting with the death note's effect, effectively serving as a "fake sense effect" for the purpose of being able to kill any human, no matter where they are. I am insanely proud of being able to assemble that convoluted mess of an effect as a solution to this dilemma, LOL.
That is NASTY, nice. Anime builds are always gonna have a degree of bullshit, but jesus. Of course, given its decently long list of limitations, it got me thinking about how it affects specific characters. Obviously, since it's limited to Humans, someone like Superman is gonna be unaffected. But, what about Ben 10? Is he only affected when not transformed? Or most of the Showa Kamen Riders. They're cyborgs. Do cyborgs count, especially considering their extent of alteration (#1 & #2 are mostly just a brain & modified heart)? Hell, would Decade be affected? I don't know if he even counts anymore (ignoring how he'd probably just...develop an Immunity when he entered the dimension). The potential interactions between the Death Notes and various settings are really interesting, even if the fandom is full of some...annoying people.
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Re: Death Note

Post by Ares »

SolarOracle wrote: Thu Feb 09, 2023 12:43 am Death Notes
Role: The ultimate Bathroom Psychic tool

Death Note: (Flaws: Easily Removable). [72]
The Human Whose Name Is Written In This Note Shall Die: Perception Range Damage 22 (Extras: Dimensional 3 - All Dimensions, Subtle, Triggered 5 - Specified Time, Variable Descriptor 2 - Causes of Death) (Flaws: Limited to Humans, Quirk - Requires Target’s Name), linked to Perception Range Weaken Stamina 22 (Extras: Dimensional 3 - All Dimensions, Subtle, Triggered 5 - Specified Time, Variable Descriptor 2 - Causes of Death) (Flaws: Limited to Humans, Quirk - Requires Target’s Name), linked to Senses 17 (Accurate, Counters Concealment 5, Radius, Extended 8, Ranged Detect Others) (Extras: Dimensional 3 - All Dimensions) (Flaws: Limited to targeting with Death Note). (120)

The death notes deal massive damage and Weaken Stamina effects, effectively being a "Damage, but better" effect, able to kill pretty much any human with its effects at PL 22, and being able to target across dimensions, as the Shinigami would use it on humans even while still in the Shinigami Realm. It has the Subtle modifier, as there is no clear indication the target was a victim of the death note, can be set as Triggered to whatever specified condition the user desires, and having a very broad range of Variable Descriptors, as the cause of death can be anything the user wants it to be. It's only downsides is its weakness of being unable to target non-humans and that the user needs to know the target's name and face for it to take effect.

The more interesting part of the build however is how it is able to target those that the user cannot perceive, as I gave it a Limited sense effect allowing the user to "perceive" the target no matter where they are (having a RIDICULOUS Extended Range, able to see into other planets even), but having the catch that the user is only able to perceive them for the purpose of targeting with the death note's effect, effectively serving as a "fake sense effect" for the purpose of being able to kill any human, no matter where they are. I am insanely proud of being able to assemble that convoluted mess of an effect as a solution to this dilemma, LOL.
OwOMotaros wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 10:00 am That is NASTY, nice. Anime builds are always gonna have a degree of bullshit, but jesus. Of course, given its decently long list of limitations, it got me thinking about how it affects specific characters. Obviously, since it's limited to Humans, someone like Superman is gonna be unaffected. But, what about Ben 10? Is he only affected when not transformed? Or most of the Showa Kamen Riders. They're cyborgs. Do cyborgs count, especially considering their extent of alteration (#1 & #2 are mostly just a brain & modified heart)? Hell, would Decade be affected? I don't know if he even counts anymore (ignoring how he'd probably just...develop an Immunity when he entered the dimension). The potential interactions between the Death Notes and various settings are really interesting, even if the fandom is full of some...annoying people.
The various limitations of the Death Note do make it interesting with regards to how it would interact with other settings. Death Note is designed specifically for a setting where the Death Note itself is basically the only supernatural thing (the Shinigami exist, but don't directly influence things beyond setting off the plot).

For instance, the "most know targets name" / "must be able to visualize face" limits might mean that anyone with a secret identity or mask might be safe. The Death Note might not work on "Batman" or "Spider-Man" but would work on "Bruce Wayne" or "Peter Parker". Interestingly, it might also work on both The Hulk and Bruce Banner since Hulk is a separate being and that is both his name and face.

I imagine it would still work on cyborgs, as they're still human, just with cybernetic augmentation. But if Death Notes work by stopping a targets heart, it might not work on cyborgs who are just a brain in a jar or something similar.

It might be interesting to see how the Death Note would work on someone with actual mystical abilities. Someone like Dr. Strange or Harry Dresden might be able to ward off the effects, while someone like Captain Marvel just might be outright immune (though Billy Batson would likely be vulnerable to it).

It'd also be interesting to see how the Death Note interacts with someone who has regeneration or is able to come back to life. Someone like Wolverine who "merely" regenerates might be dead, but the various immortals from the Highlander franchise might die and then just get right back up a few moments later. Similarly, it might not work on a Highlander style immortal unless they know the immortal's real name and not whatever name they're using these days.

And for a bit of fun, the DBZ Abridged / Team 4 Star crew had Cell be vulnerable to the Death Note, perhaps due to having human DNA in his mix, but it only stopped 'one' of his hearts and he recovered.
"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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SolarOracle
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Re: Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Post by SolarOracle »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 8:20 am Wow, I'm shocked it only lasted three years. I remember people ALWAYS talking about it but I knew almost nothing about it save the characters' names, and how everyone was fapping over how great a planner one or the other was. But I guess 3 years is a lot more typical than the "this manga runs for an eternity" stuff- hell, even Sailor Moon only ran 5 years, and most of that was at the insistence of editors making it longer and longer (it was gonna be only 1-2 years).
Well, the anime, which was the thing that made it big outside of Japan, came out between 2006 and 2007, so the series probably lingered on the minds of its fans for a bit longer due to that. It also got adapted into a buuuuunch of movies and specials, and received various light novels and manga sequels (the most recent of which came out on 2020), meaning the series had a lot of longevity, and constantly received an influx of new people first experiencing it. But yeah, all that said, it is kind of insane that such a huge series only lasted for 3 years, LOL, especially as a Jump manga, as the magazine has a reputation for milking its series for as much as they are worth and have them running for decades.
Jabroniville wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 8:20 am The whole "attack that always works" thing pops up a LOT in anime/manga, and yeah, it's a tricky thing in an RPG. The "just shove so many ranks onto it that nobody can resist it" thing is the only way it really works, like The Word in Preacher.
I'm pretty sure your Preacher builds were my main inspiration for settling on what PL I was gonna make the death note's effect be, actually! : D
MarvelLion wrote: Wed Feb 08, 2023 11:37 pm I agree.
Though, I am guilty of having a “team” in the series: Soichiro, Light’s father. Hands down, my favorite character in the series! #TeamSoichiro
LOL, can't blame you. Tho if we're picking teams, I am full-on team Matsuda.
OwOMotaros wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 10:00 am That is NASTY, nice. Anime builds are always gonna have a degree of bullshit, but jesus. Of course, given its decently long list of limitations, it got me thinking about how it affects specific characters. Obviously, since it's limited to Humans, someone like Superman is gonna be unaffected. But, what about Ben 10? Is he only affected when not transformed? Or most of the Showa Kamen Riders. They're cyborgs. Do cyborgs count, especially considering their extent of alteration (#1 & #2 are mostly just a brain & modified heart)? Hell, would Decade be affected? I don't know if he even counts anymore (ignoring how he'd probably just...develop an Immunity when he entered the dimension). The potential interactions between the Death Notes and various settings are really interesting, even if the fandom is full of some...annoying people.
There is no real definitive answer, since the scope of Death Note as a series is fairly limited. Still, my two cents on the matter would be that, considering the divine and mystical nature of the death notes and the Shinigami, the people who would be vulnerable to the Death Note would be those with a "human soul". So I'd say that the cyborg riders, no mater how roboticized they've become, and Ben 10, even in alien forms, would still be vulnerable to it. Tho this does raise an interesting question about what would happen if you put the name of a cyborg without a heart in the death note and didn't specify a cause of death. Would the death note fail to take effect, since it kills people by heart attacks by default if no cause of death is specified, or would they still die some other way?

Ares also raises an interesting question about how the note would interact with characters who have mystical resistances or are versed in the magical arts in general. That would be something fun to see explored, tho it's obviously WAY out of the scope of the actual series, so we will probably never really have a definitive answer on this, LOL.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Shinigami Eyes

Post by SolarOracle »

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Shinigami Eyes
Role: The Ultimate Bathroom Psychic Tool

Shinigami Eyes: Senses 3 (Acute Ranged Visual Detect Names). [3]
Senses 4 (Acute, Analytical, Ranged Visual Detect Lifespans) (Flaws: Limited to Humans). [2]
Feature 2: Works through pictures and video. [2]

About: The other big power from the Death Note series, the eyes of a Shinigami are the perfect tool to be used along with a death note, as they show its user the name and remaining lifespan of whoever they look at, as long as the majority of that person's face is visible.

Naturally, this ability is inherent to every Shinigami, but humans are able to acquire it by making a pact with a Shinigami, where they have to surrender half of their remaining lifespan to a Shinigami in a pact, gaining the powers of the Shinigami Eyes in exchange. Ryuk told Light about this option earlier in the series, as the Kira manhunt by L, the FBI and the Japanese Anti-Kira Taskforce was starting, but Light turned him down, saying that it was too steep a price. However, Amane Misa, a human who came in possession of a death note and became obsessed with discovering who Kira was so she could join and support them, didn't agree with that opinion, as she gladly made the pact with Rem before starting her own killing spree as the "Second Kira", showcasing that she was much less tactical about her methods than Light was, but gave Light a great advantage, as he planned on using her loyalty to him as a way to benefit from her Shinigami eyes and discover L's name, all without needing to sacrifice his lifespan. Through a series of complicated events, this plan would come to fail.

Other people would make the eye deal with various Shinigami throughout the series, be it due to their own hunger for power or desire to achieve their version of justice, but ultimately, they would all die one way or the other.

Interestingly, there also has apparently been humans naturally born with Shinigami eyes somehow in the Light Novel sequels, like the serial killer Beyond Birthday (yeah, for whatever reason, non-Japanese names in Death Note have always been really weird and off, like Kal Snydar, Raye Penber or Pedoro Kollet). How this is possible goes unexplained, tho it was jokingly suggested that a Shinigami could have dropped their own eyes in the human world similarly to what happened to Sidoh's death note.

Another interesting aspect of the Shinigami eyes is that humans who receive it also gain perfect eyesight along with it. The Shinigami eyes cannot see the lifespan of other Shinigami, despite presumably still being able to see their names, and similarly, also cannot see the lifespan of other humans who own a death note.

Build-wise, this is very straight forward, just some visual Senses with some associated complications and limitations. We've never seen someone looking at animals or other species to see if their name would appear (assuming they even count as having a name by the way the death note rules it), but since it can see the name of other Shinigami, I thought it was appropriate to have that aspect of it not be limited to humans.
Last edited by SolarOracle on Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:35 am, edited 2 times in total.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Pepsiman II (Japan)

Post by SolarOracle »

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Fanart by Kuma-Draw
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Fanart by @Jmanvelez

Role: Superior Successor, Blatant Walking Advertisement, Living Meme

Pepsiman II

Identity: Unknown.
Gender: Male.
Age: Unknown.
Height: Unknown. Unofficially stated to be 1.90 meters.
Weight: Unknown. Unofficially stated to weigh 95 kilograms.
Eyes: None.
Hair: None.
Skin: Chrome.
Group: None.
Base of Operations: United States of America, Pepsi City.

Power Level 8 - 81 Character Points

Abilities
Strength 3, Agility 4, Fighting 5, Awareness 0
Stamina 5, Dexterity 1, Intellect 0, Presence 1

Powers
SCHWAAA!
: Create 1 (Pepsi) (Extras: Innate) (Flaws: Permanent). [3]

Always Knows When Someone Needs a Pepsi: Senses 6 (Ranged Extended 4 Detect Thirst). [6]

Gear
Silver Chevrolet Corvette

Size Large Strength 5 Speed 5 Defense 8 Toughness 8
Cost 10

Advantages
Benefit - Fame, Close Attack 2, Defensive Roll, Equipment 2, Evasion

Skills
Acrobatics 5
(+9 total).
Athletics 8 (+11 total).
Athletics 2 (+13 total) (Flaws: Limited to "Sideways-Riding-Sports").
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+9 total).
Deception 2 (+3 total).
Persuasion 4 (+5 total).
Vehicles 4 (+5 total).

Offense
Initiative +4
Unarmed
+9, close damage 3.

Defense
Dodge 10, Fortitude 5, Parry 10, Toughness 5/6*, Will 3

Complications

Motivation: To Quench the Thirst of Others, WITH PEPSI!: Pepsiman’s allegiance is only to Pepsi itself, and his mission is to satisfy everyone’s thirst by offering them a cold Pepsi with his powers. He cares little about the morals of whoever he is offering a can of Pepsi, offering them to common people and mafiosos alike.

Perpetual Bad Luck: Pepsiman never seems to be able to catch a break. Every time he succeeds in offering a cold can of Pepsi to someone, something bad is almost always guaranteed to follow, like him falling from a great height, being chased by a runaway oversized can of Pepsi or running face first into a window. On other occasions, as Pepsiman was trying to bring Pepsi to others throughout the city, the entirety of Pepsi City fell into absolute chaos, seeming to be hellbent on getting in his way.

38 Abilities, 9 Powers, 7 Advantages, 13 Skills, 14 Defenses = 81 Character Points


About: The infamous disaster-prone hero, Pepsiman is the the guardian of Pepsi City, devoted to satiating the thirst of people around the world with his power to summon cans and bottles of Pepsi at will to those who need it... tho admittedly, disaster is sure to follow for the hero after his endeavors almost every time.

This incarnation of Pepsiman was originally conceived in the 90s, as the Cola Wars were raging on across the world, Japan included, as Coca Cola was absolutely dominating the local market and a huge factor as to why were its amazing ads. In an attempt to turn the tables, Pepsico Japan hired advertising legend, Onuki Takuya to come up with an ad campaign to increase Pepsi's popularity so they could compete.

Onuki had to think long and hard about what to do, sitting down at a convenience store and examining the Pepsi cans on sale. With how hard Coke was stomping Pepsi on sales, and with, according to himself, Japan being the country where Coca Cola outdoes Pepsi the most in sales comparatively, Onuki thought to himself that this was a lost cause, and that the only way they could beat the competition was if they changed the can's color to red, but since that wasn't actually possible, he had to come up with something.

He then had an idea that was actually doable: To create a mascot that would get the attention of the Japanese public, and make him extremely famous! And as that mascot got famous, so would the brand! But what could that mascot be! Well, a superhero of course! What's more popular and attention-grabbing than superheroes?! He also decided that the hero shouldn't have a face, so that everyone could relate to it, no matter who they were, and that the commercials should all be about how cool that hero is, only for, at the very end, something unexpected to happen where that hero looked really lame! Yeah! That's it!

And with that simple thought process, Pepsiman was born. Wanting to capitalize on the appeal western culture had on Japan, Onuki decided to make the ads seem like they were American and that they were airing all over the world instead of only in Japan, hiring Industrial Light & Magic to complete his vision for each ad, as he would sketch and write them out and send them over to the crew. Onuki was quite detail oriented during these ads, asking for very small things to be adjusted, which surprisingly was apparently really fun for the ILM guys, as they loved dealing with small minucia and working to make the ads truly spectacular. Here's all of the ads, in case you are curious!

These ads would all follow a simple formula: someone somewhere needs a Pepsi, and as they are crying for help, Pepsiman appears, causing everyone to cheer. He scream "SCHWAAAA!", activating his powers and summoning refreshing drinks for everyone. As the day is saved, Pepsiman prepares to leave, but ends up getting severely hurt somehow, causing everyone to laugh. The ad then ends by showing a Pepsi can damaged in a similar way to how Pepsiman got injured at the end of the ad.

Meanwhile, in Japan, Onuki's plan worked wondrously, as the character and ads became incredibly popular and gave Pepsi a huge sales boost, even outselling Coca Cola for a while. Pepsiman became a pretty popular character, with Pepsico Japan capitalizing and making a lot of merchandizing, like toys, bottle caps for Pepsi bottles and, most infamously, videogames, all of which Onuki insisted on being directly involved in the production of so Pepsiman's character and brand would stay consistent.

The Videogame
So, while Pepsiman was a pretty famous mascot in Japan during the 90s and early 2000s, he would only become known in the west in the mid-2010s, as the Pepsiman videogame somehow got the attention of the English-speaking internet at the time somehow, with people laughing at its absurdity, extreme difficulty and general bad game design.

Before getting into the Pepsiman game tho, I should probably mention that Pepsiman actually first appeared in videogames four years before starring in his own game, as he was an unlockable character in Fighting Vipers back in 1995, where you had to lose to the first opponent on the tournament mode without winning a single round to unlock the thirst-quenching superhero. I don't really know much about Fighting Vipers, so I can't really comment in depth about his playstyle or gameplay, sorry. He seems like an interesting character based on the bit of playthrough I watched tho.

Anyways, the hero's protagonist debut in videogames would come in 1999, with the release of Pepsiman, a third person runner game where you play as the eponymous hero, adventuring through Pepsi City as chaos develops, attempting to quench the thirst of its inhabitants as crisis situations come up. Interspersed with the gameplay, you have live action scenes starring Mike Butters of Saw fame, playing a Pepsi-obsessed American gamer who is constantly shown chewing on Elma Chips (which is owned by Pepsico, of course) brand snacks and drinking liter after liter of Pepsi, all while saying nonsensical catchphrase to advertise the drink, like "Pepsi for TV Game" or "Pepsi for Pizza". I... really don't know what they were going for with those, aside from the whole "Pepsiman is American" brand strategy. The game being voice-acted in English already felt like enough to cement that in my opinion tho.

The game is NOTORIOUSLY difficult, as a lot of people seem to have a hard time getting its mechanics and it being basically impossible to read and react to the things the game throws at you in time. The game also doesn't explain its dash mechanic anywhere in-game despite it being an essential skill to beat the game, so that ended up being a source of frustration for most gameplays and reviews I watched as well.

I like the graphics of the game, especially for a PSX-era game. The game uses 3d models for Pepsiman himself, the stages, most obstacles and important NPCs, but uses 2d sprites for everything else, like NPCs in the stages and collectibles, which actually looks pretty cool. Ends up having an effect similar to Square Enix's "HD 2D" visuals, as seen in stuff like Octopath Traveler, but it also ends up being a bit jarring when they are too close to Pepsiman, as the disparity between them ends up really evident. Kind of wish they had just done Pepsiman as a sprite as well, since if they fully committed to that, the game would look really great, but that might have ended up making reading obstacles a bit difficult, I don't know.

Conclusions
Pepsiman was a real big meme in my early teenage years, as I would often see reviews, playthroughs and speedruns or the game by YouTubers I liked, and, somehow, his meme status persisted pretty strongly to this day. I was joking around with a friend on VC a while back when he suggested I did a Pepsiman build, and I decided I might as well.

His "SCHAAAA" catchphrase always reminded me of Ultraman's "Shuwatch!" thing, but it apparently comes from the onomatopoeia for opening a can of soda and as a shortening of "konnichiwa". Wacky.

Pepsiman's in-universe origins are a mystery, tho I do vaguely remember some toy saying that he was originally a human scientist who was merged with Pepsi and a mysterious metallic alien being, but since I can't track that, I might be wrong about that. I really wouldn't mind if they brought this ad campaign back, even if it's been more than 20 years. I'm sure it would be a hit with everyone my age who found out about the character through memes and game reviews.

The Build
Pepsiman is a simple PL 8 character, having high endurance due to how often he gets horribly hurt, at 5 Stamina, and getting an additional rank of Toughness through Defensive Roll, as he is a superhero, so I assume he has SOME combat experience. He has pretty decent Dodge and Parry, since that's what his game is all about! He lacks in offensive options tho, being only PL 6 with his melee attacks.

For other aspects of this build, thee ads, the game and the toys for Pepsiman were really good resources. He has his Silver Chevrolet Corvette, which was the "official Pepsiman car", which is built like a regular car in game terms. He has really high Athletics, as he is often seen practicing sports and being, of course, a really good runner (Pepsiman makes A LOT of use of the Running action for that skill), and is, as written in the infamous toy, "The Fuct of Pepsiman" (yes, really, look it up), "really good at sideways-riding-sports", which refers mainly to skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing. He's also pretty acrobatic.

Pepsiman also has really high Agility since hjs game is a running game, and he seems to have a LOT of motor coordination based on that. His main thing tho are his powers, being able to sense whenever someone is in need of a cold Pepsi, and being able to do his iconic "Schwaaaa" thing, to summon the drinks.

Outfits: Pepsiman's body is completely chrome. He has had two major outfits, both resembling Pepsi can designs, the first of which included red stripes going up his legs, ending in a big Pepsi logo on his chest. His second more iconic one has half of his body in a dark blue hue, with only his head, the right side of chest and his right arm as chrome, and he still has the Pepsi logo on his chest (this costume redesign happened due to Pepsi Japan changing its cans while ILM was in the middle of recording the ads, LOL). He is always seen wearing a chain around his neck.

Additionally, as "Pepsiman Twist", he wears a yellow mask over his whole head, emulating the look of a lemon.
Last edited by SolarOracle on Tue Mar 14, 2023 12:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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