Mort character creation

[Usdrothek]

A place for Mort's character discussions.

[Mort]

Name: Terrence Taylor, AKA Meteor!
PL/PPs: 10/150

Abilities: Str 14/34 (+2/+12), Dex 10 (+0), Con 14/38 (+2/+14), Int 8 (-1), Wis 8 (-1), Cha 8 (-1)

Saves: Fort +14, Ref +6, Will +8, Toughness +14 (Impervious)

Combat: Attack +4, Unarmed Combat +8, Damage +12 (Unarmed + Stun 12), Defense +6 (+3 flat-footed), Initiative +4, Knockback Modifier -19

Skills: Intimidate 8 (+7), Notice 8 (+7), Profession (Pro Wrestler) 4 (+3)

Feats:  All-out Attack, Attack Focus 4 (Unarmed), Improved Initiative 1, Interpose, Move-by Action, Power Attack

Powers:
"My head is hard, baby!  Oh yeah!"
-Stun 12 [Extra: Linked to Unarmed Damage, Power Feat: Alternate Power 1]
--Alternate Power: Impervious 14 (extra bought on Toughness) [Duration: Sustained] and Immovable 5 [Duration: Sustained]

"I'm like a meteor from space! Outer space, baby!  Oh yeah!"
-Enhanced Str 20, Enhanced Con 24, Feature 1 (only 3' tall but really, really heavy)
-Super Strength 7 [Power Feats: Groundstrike, Shockwave, Dynamic, Dynamic Alternate Power 1]
--Dynamic Alternate Power: Flight 8

"Shake if off, baby!  Oh yeah!"
-Immunity 10 (Cold, Heat, Pressure, Radiation, Vacuum, Fatigue Effects)

Cost: Abilities 2 + Saves 15 + Combat 20 + Skills 5 (20 Ranks) + Feats 9 + Powers 99 = Total 150 PPs

____________________

Terrence wanting nothing more from life than to watch--and perhaps one day join in--professional wrestling. He idolized those big, strong men he saw on television and at the arena in Charlotte. They had everything that he wanted: physical prowess, beautiful and adoring women, fame and fortune. Try as he might, however, Terrence could never live up. Though well within the bound of "normal," Terrence was always a little runt of a guy. He worked out, he trained, he ate, but he never really grew. He wasn't very handsome and he wasn't at all smart. After dropping out of high school in the eleventh grade, Terrence got his "dream" job, working as a janitor at a small local venue where third-rate wrestling was held twice a month. Terence was a nobody destined for nowhere until that fateful night with a falling star fell right out of the sky into his backyard.

Terence still lived at home with his mom and his older sister, Teresa. The siblings were out in the backyard one night, drinking beer and laughing, when a shooting star appeared in the sky. Teresa quickly made a wish . . . but the star, instead of "burning out" and disappearing, kept right on coming down. The "shooting star," which turned out to be a bit of space debris, crashed right into the Taylor's back yard. Terence and Teresa were caught in the explosion that destroyed their trailer and put their mom in the hospital for a week. The space debris brought with it, however, cosmic radiation, radiation that mutated the bodies of Terence and his sister. Terence quickly found himself shrinking in height, but not in weight. His skin grew as hard as steel, harder even, and his body grew incredibly strong, virtually unstoppable.

At first Terence didn't know what to do with his new-found powers . . . so he went back to wrestling. As his strength and toughness grew, it became obvious even to his small mind, no normal human on earth was in his league any longer. Before Terence could get himself up to any real mischief, a superhero team found him and put his abilities to good use, fighting crime.

____________________

Notes:
-This character was built using the UP power modifications, but I can revert him back to 2e original if necessary.

-His Stun attack is linked to his unarmed damage (Str) bonus. The Stun fires when he activates it and hits someone, presumably with his head.

-I bought "Feature 1 (short and heavy)" (Feature is in UP) to avoid having to mess with a few ranks of Shrinking and Density. Basically, his height and weight won't come up in-game much, so there was no real point in statting it all out.

-Both the Impervious extra and the Immovable (that are together in an array slot) have their durations shifted from Permanent to Sustained (since they are in an array) and have lost the "Innate" extra (a total modifier of +0). If you want me to reduce his ranks in the Impervious extra ranks, I'm fine with that.

[Usdrothek]

OK, as I've said, I like the concept. Now to nut out the points and such. I'll just list them as I go down the sheet.

Your toughness exceeds the limit of 10 for the power level.

You get limited benefit from the attack focus as it busts the power limit.

Stun and impervious are over the power limit:

"-Both the Impervious extra and the Immovable (that are together in an array slot)....."

Powers in an array, unless dynamic, are operated mutually exclusively, so both can't be active at the same time.

Finally, can you explain the rationale behind your power arrays?

[Mort]

Your toughness exceeds the limit of 10 for the power level.

1.  Notice that I took a Defense/Toughness trade-off of -4/+4 and an Attack/Save DC trade-off of -2/+2 (trade-offs are explained on p.24 of the core book). These are the same trade-offs that the PL 10 Powerhouse archetype has (p.21).

You get limited benefit from the attack focus as it busts the power limit.

2.  Trade-off feats (feats that reduce one trait/cap to increase another) are not subject to PL limitations.  You can see one of the many discussions on this over at ATT here: http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=23841.  This is why most of the PL 10 archetypes are at or over +10 (using permanent trade-offs) and yet take the trade-off feats (like Power Attack). The same is true of the combat maneuvers that sacrifice one trait (e.g. Attack) to boost another (e.g. Defense).

Stun and impervious are over the power limit:

3.  See #1 above. He is +12 on damage but only +8 to hit. +14 Toughness but only +6 on Defense. Those are the trade-offs.

"-Both the Impervious extra and the Immovable (that are together in an array slot)....."

Powers in an array, unless dynamic, are operated mutually exclusively, so both can't be active at the same time.

You can put two powers into the same array slot as long as their total cost does not exceed the cost available to the array slot (p.108), and those powers operate together when the slot is activated.

Finally, can you explain the rationale behind your power arrays?

For Meteor, it's all about exertion. The cosmic energy he absorbed into his body works like a battery. When he channels that cosmic energy into his head to crash into something with great force, he becomes more vulnerable and less dense, since it is cosmic energy that also makes his skin ultra hard. In the same way, when he expends him energy to fly, that energy is not available to bolster his strength. This is essentially what the Battlesuit archetype has done with the Blast/Super-Strength array.

[Edit] - changed descriptors and so changed array description.

[Usdrothek]

Cool. I figured there must have been some trade offs in there, but not having costs next to stuff makes it harder to pin down.

Thanks for setting me straight on trade off feats and the having multiple powers in arrays. In the game I played previously, the latter wasn't allowed.

OK, the reasons behind the arrays sound plausible, statwise he's good to go.

Does he have a background? Where is he from? friends, family? How did he aquire his powers?

[Mort]

Great.  Thanks.

Can you tell me a little about the story? I have an "origin and history" for him, but I'm willing to fit it to whatever story you had in mind.

[Mort]

Here is what I have without knowing anything about the story, setting, or superhero team.  I will make adjustments as needed.

Terrence wanting nothing more from life than to watch--and perhaps one day join in--professional wrestling. He idolized those big, strong men he saw on television and at the arena in Charlotte. They had everything that he wanted: physical prowess, beautiful and adoring women, fame and fortune. Try as he might, however, Terrence could never live up. Though well within the bound of "normal," Terrence was always a little runt of a guy. He worked out, he trained, he ate, but he never really grew. He wasn't very handsome and he wasn't at all smart. After dropping out of high school in the eleventh grade, Terrence got his "dream" job, working as a janitor at a small local venue where third-rate wrestling was held twice a month. Terence was a nobody destined for nowhere until that fateful night with a falling star fell right out of the sky into his backyard.

Terence still lived at home with his mom and his older sister, Teresa. The siblings were out in the backyard one night, drinking beer and laughing, when a shooting star appeared in the sky. Teresa quickly made a wish . . . but the star, instead of "burning out" and disappearing, kept right on coming down. The "shooting star," which turned out to be a bit of space debris, crashed right into the Taylor's back yard. Terence and Teresa were caught in the explosion that destroyed their trailer and put their mom in the hospital for a week. The space debris brought with it, however, cosmic radiation, radiation that mutated the bodies of Terence and his sister. Terence quickly found himself shrinking in height, but not in weight. His skin grew as hard as steel, harder even, and his body grew incredibly strong, virtually unstoppable.

At first Terence didn't know what to do with his new-found powers . . . so he went back to wrestling. As his strength and toughness grew, it became obvious even to his small mind, no normal human on earth was in his league any longer. Before Terence could get himself up to any real mischief, a superhero team found him and put his abilities to good use, fighting crime.

[Usdrothek]

I've been doing work on statting up the villains and its made me think a bit.

Would it be ok with you if we dropped Meteor's impervious toughness to 10? This would still make you immune to most attacks, with a good save for anything that gets through above level 10.

This would create less of a disparity between you and the rest of the team.

[Mort]

Fine with me.  The Impervious extra is in a 1 PP array slot, so just changing it from 14 to 10 won't require any other change in the character.

[Mort]

The Impervious on my official character sheet is still 14. You may want to bump that down to 10 as per our conversation above.

[Usdrothek]

Ah yes. Thanks for the catch, I will change it.