Gaming W/Jemal: Mutant High

Hmm, possible concepts...

Switch -- Shape changer with an identity crisis. [sblock]
Switch
“What you see is definitely NOT what you get.”

No one knows what Switch really looks like, not even Switch. Due to Switch’s powers, it can appear to be anything.

Attributes (30pts)
Str 16 +3, Dex 16 +3, Con 12 +1, Int 14 +2, Wis 16 +3, Cha 16 +3
Combat & Saving Throws (39pts)
Attack +5 (melee +5, grapple +5, ranged +5)
Defense: 18 (flat 12, touch 16)
Damage +4, Fort +6 [5], Refl +8 [5], Will +12 [9]
Skills & Feats (20pts)
Skills (29): acrobatics [6] +0, bluff [5] +0, disguise [5] +0, knowledge: life science [5] +0, notice [6] +0, stealth [5] +0
Feats (12): Dodge Focus 3, Defensive Roll 3, Endurance 3,
Powers (86pts)
SHAPESHIFT +7 [42PP]
EX: Duration-continuous [+1]
FL: Action-full round [-1], Distracting [-1], Duration-permanent [-1]
REGENERATION +54 [54PP]
* Recovery check +8 (8)
* True Regeneration (43): recover 1/round w/out rest
- Bruised, Unconscious, Injured, Staggered, Disabled, Ability Damage & Death
PF: Diehard, Persistent, Regrowth
Complications & Drawbacks (+0pts)
One-way Transformation [+5pp]
Involuntary Shape-shifts due to emotional distress (frequent/negligible effect) [+0pts, purely a rp/dm-controlled flaw]
Trade Offs: none

The child who would grow up to be called switch was raised by Morlocks and given over to the Xavier Institute at the age of 8. It has no memories of even living with regular humans and finds the wider world where mutants are not the majority to be frightening.

Switch is often embarrassed about its lack of physical identity and is only truly outgoing with its close friends. Switch nurses a secret crush on the 11th grade class president, Veronica Saunder (Ozone).[/sblock]

Wi-Fi – Telepathic Prodigy [sblock]
WI-FI (Kenny Degeorge)
“Stop, don't say anything... I already know what you're going to say.”

Attributes (25pts)
Str 9 -1, Dex 15 +2, Con 15 +2, Int 15 +2, Wis 14 +2, Cha 16 +3
Combat & Saving Throws (37pts)
Attack +4 (melee +4, grapple +3, ranged +4)
Defense: 14 (flat 10, touch 10)
Damage +7, Fort +8, Refl +11, Will +8 [6/9/6]
Skills & Feats (23pts)
Skills (6=24): Bluff [2] +5, Concentration [7] +9, Diplomacy [1] +4, Notice [10] +12, Profession: student [4] +6
Feats (10): Defensive Roll 5, Improved Defense 2, Evasion 2, Master Plan
Organic Networking Feats (7): Beginner's Luck, Benefit 2 (security clearance, wealth), Contacts, Eidetic Memory, Jack-of-all-trades, Well-informed
Complications & Drawbacks (+2pts)
Loses Organic Networking Feats if his Telepathy power is nullified. (infrequent, moderate)

Personal History: Kenny Degeorges was born in Portland, Oregon. Unlike most mutants, his ability manifested as soon as cognizant thought developed in his mind. For many years his parents thought he was autistic, deaf, mute and blind as he never responded to any stimuli around him. As he matured his mind learned to cope with the constant influx of ideas and sensory and his personality emerged; While they were thrilled that their son had emerged from his own personal hell they weren't so happy to learn that he was a mutant. Seeing the truth in their minds and knowing that his mother would have preferred he remain a vegetable, he hit the road at the tender age of 8, already wise beyond his years.

A chance delve through a motorist's memories while looking for directions enlightened him to Xavier's School for Gifted Children and what it REALLY was behind its public facade. He bought a bus ticket and never looked back.

Kenny likes the home he's lived in for the last 7 years and ardently hopes to become an X-man one day. In the meanwhile, he wastes time in class listening to teachers tell him things that he doesn't need to learn as he can now get into their minds (most of them anyway) whenever he needs to.

He's known around the campus by most of the cliques but doesn't really fit into any of them.

He secretly believes that Magneto has the right idea about how things should be run, but that he's too much of a fanatic to make it work.

-------------------------

Notes: Wi-fi's Organic Networking feats are a result of his abilities and minds with which he has had made contact, not actual physical contacts.

Wi-Fi isn't much of a warrior but he's useful in gathering intelligence and at providing team communications. He's essentially a human computer network.[/sblock]


Natalie Westlake -- well adjusted mutant cheerleader/photographer.
[sblock]Natalie Westlake
“Look, you don't have to be all massive and huge to pick up a semi-truck; size is not a measure of strength.“

A short, four-armed, golden-skinned woman with long, curly alabaster-white hair stands before you in a red miniskirt and yellow t-shirt. As strange as she looks, the only thing you can remember after meeting her is her winning smile.
HT 5’ 1”, WT 112lbs, Eyes: emerald green, Skin: golden brown,
Hair: alabaster white (waist length)
Distinguishing features: 4 arms.

Attributes (25pts)
Str 8/55 -1, Dex 17 +3, Con 17 +3, Int 12 +1, Wis 14 +2, Cha 17 +3
Combat & Saving Throws (49pts)
Attack +5 (melee +5, grapple +11, ranged +5)
Defense: 17 (flat 13, touch 14)
Damage +11, Fort +16 (13), Refl +7 (4), Will +10 (8)
Skills & Feats (22pts)
Skills (48): acrobatics [3] +6, bluff [10] +13, climb [4] +3, diplomacy [3] +6, intimidate [3] +6, jump [8] +7, knowledge: pop culture [6] +7, performance: dance [1] +4, profession: photographer [5] +7, swim [5] +4
Feats (10): Attack Specialization (strike) 3, Attractive 1, Distract, Equipment, Improved Grab, Improved Pin, Fascinate, Taunt
Powers (77pts)
ADDITIONAL LIMB +2 (arms) [2PP]
SUPER-STRENGTH +11 [26PP]
Load, L: 5,320, M: 10,640, H: 16k, Max: 32k, Push: 80k lbs
PF: Groundstrike, Shockwave, Thunderclap
AP: Autofiring Strike +11, Penetrating Strike +11, Leaping +11
IMMOVABLE +10 [20PP]
EX: Unstoppable +1
IMMUNITY +10 [10PP]
* Effects with Impact descriptor
PROTECTION +8 [19PP]
EX: Impervious (+11) +1
Equipment (5pts)
* High Qualify Digital SLR camera with high-capacity flash memory.
* Small Laptop w/ photo & movie editing software.
* Small photo-lab
Complications & Drawbacks (+0pts)
nothing

Personal History
Natalie Westlake lived an idyllic life with her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother in a small New England port town. Her mother and grandmother were both successful models in their day and expected Natalie to follow in their footsteps. That dream was shattered the day after Natalie’s 11th birthday when she was taken to the hospital after collapsing at school. The doctors found that the bones in her arms were splitting in two. After many hurried consultations it was concluded that she was a mutant and her family watched in horror as her skin darkened and became more lustrous while her hair slowly leeched of all color. A year later a representative from the Xavier School for Gifted Children approached the elder Ms. Westlake and Natalie was given over to their care.

Five years have passed with Natalie living at Xavier’s School and her mutations have finally stabilized. Her arms have split in two and she now has four fully functional arms and her back and torso bear some enhanced musculature which Natalie tends to hide under baggy clothing. Her hair has grown long because she has not been able to find much that will actually cut it.

The other student ridicule her because she has not given up her human name but it doesn’t really bother her. Natalie nurses a secret crush on Cyclops and dreams of reuniting with her mother some day.

Natalie enjoys photography and works for the school paper. She has also taken up cheer leading now that her body has begun to “fill-out” a bit. She can be quite social and downright scathing the way pretty children learn to be when she wants to.

[/sblock]

I'm definitely be interested in this campaign... I can't think of an original right now, but I'm thinking of going for Molly from Runaways (she's a mutant, right?)

I might like to try my hand at this game. I really like that Jemal is limiting the pp spent by category. Too much abuse in M&M if the GM isn't careful.

That said...

Spider-Man's Illegitimate Kid
A teenage girl who has recently discovered that her father was Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man. At the beginning of adolescence, she began to seep a sticky substance from her pores, but not so much that she couldn't conceal it from her family and friends. As she matured, the girl learned that she could emit the substance at a distance, and even scale sheer surfaces. The girl hasn't inherited all of her father's powers (she isn't super-strong for example), but has an advanced "spider-sense" that includes remote viewing and true precog and postcog, as well as other rudimentary mental abilities.

Thoughts?

Obviously, more to come later when I have a chance to look at my book(s).

Ahh man, I'm having a really tough time defining powers for Wi-Fi, my concept of choice.

I see him as a Mind Reader but on a really huge scale, he's learning to filter and manipulate all that incoming data. He can also communicate (mentally) and his mind has adapted to manage all those sensory inputs (mental quickness). I was also hopeing to shoehorn in a bit of ESP (via all those minds being read). Finally, if there's enough points left over, I was thinking a bit of a Stun power via Wi-fi foisting his powers on an unsuspecting mind and leaving them reeling from the sensory overload.

I was thinking that a lot of these didn't make sense as Alternate Powers and I'm not real clear on how Dynamic Alternate Powers work, or even if either of these work at all given that all the powers depend on the Mind Reading parent power being active (I'll take it continuous/permanent).

Ideas on how I can link all these together without breaking the established pp limits?

tricky!

To simulate all that information, perhaps some feats? Eidetic Memory (not HIS memory, but if he needs to remember something, someone...somewhere...probably knows it and he can dig it up) and Beginner's Luck (likewise, he can, in a pinch, gain 'temporary expertise' in any skill just by digging it out of the collective knowledge of mankind). You could also take things like Connected and Well Informed...feats that let him gather information quickly and know things he has no business knowing.

Maybe some kind of Mind Shield or even Immunity to Mental Attacks? His mind is 'distributed' and can't easily be attacked?

ESP with the Medium (must be a person present) perhaps, to show him tapping into other people's senses. Mind Reading is obvious, but remember it has Perception range. Combine that with ESP, and you have the potential to scan any mind, anywhere for anything. Note that Mind Reading has an Extra that lets you tap into senses as well. Check out Telepathy for a power that combines Communication and Mind Reading in a nice, easy package. Perhaps some kind of mental super sense that lets you detect sentient minds?

Consider a complication that he sometimes picks up personality traits or mental quirks from people that he draws from...as if he momentarily became one with them, and pieces of them 'stuck' to him?

Here's Calypso...she's no great shakes normally, but you don't want to get her mad when she's anywhere near a supply of water.

Note that some of her feats have unusual explanations. All out attack and defensive attack for example are not the result of special training here, but rather a question about how she uses her water. If she uses it to block and to defend, it interferes with her attacks as well. If she wants to use it to attack, there's less left to defend with. Evasion is similarly not so much because she's lightnin' fast...it's a question of if she succeeds in shielding herself against the blast with a protective screen of water. Technically that makes those feats water-dependent too, but for 1 point each I'm not quibbling.

[sblock=Calypso]CODENAME Calypso
Concept/Archetype: Elemental
Power Level: 11
Power Points: 180
Experience Points:
Hero Points: 1

ABILITIES 25
STR 10 +0 (0 PP)
DEX 16 +3 (6 PP)
CON 16 +3 (6 PP)
INT 13 +1 (3 PP)
WIS 10 +0 (0 PP)
CHA 20 +5 (10 PP)

SAVES 11
TOUG +3 (3 Con)
FORT +6 (3 Base + 3 Con) (3 PP)
REF +7 (4 Base + 3 Dex ) (4 PP)
WILL +4 (4 Base + 0 Wis) (4 PP)

COMBAT 36
INIT +3
BASE DEF +8 (16 PP)
DEF 18 (10 + 8 Base)
FLAT-FOOTED 14
BASE ATT +10 (20 PP)

ATTACK
Melee:Attack +X (DC XX SAVE, CRIT, TYPE)
Ranged:Attack +X (DC XX SAVE, CRIT, RANGE, TYPE)

SKILLS 40 SP (10 PP)
Bluff +10 (5 ranks + 5 Cha)
Concentration +5 (5 ranks + 0 Wis)
Drive +8 (5 ranks + 3 Dex)
Intimidate +10 (5 ranks + 5 Cha)
Knowledge (current events) +5 (4 ranks + 1 Int)
Medicine +4 (4 ranks + 0 Wis)
Notice +5 (5 ranks + 0 Wis)
Profession +2 (2 ranks + 0 Wis)
Swim +5 (5 ranks + 0 Str)

LANGUAGES (0 Ranks)
English

MOVEMENT
SPEED 30/60/120
SWIM MPH: 25

FEATS 10
Attractive 1
All Out Attack 1
Defensive Attack 1
Evasion 2
Favored Environment (water) 1
Environmental Adaptation (water) 1
Rage 3

POWERS 88
Water Control +11 (28pp)
- AP Create Object (Movable, Medium:water, PF Tether, PF Progression) +10
- AP Nonlethal Blast (Medium: Water, Link to Trip) +11
- - Trip (Knockback, Medium: Water, Link to Blast) +11
- AP Lethal Blast (Medium: Water, Autofire) +11
- AP Snare (Medium: Water, PF Reversible) +10
- AP Strike (Medium: Water, PF Extended 2) +11
- AP Suffocate (Medium: Water, Sustained) +11

Environment Control (distract DC 10/hamper movement 1/2) +5 (15pp)
Obscure (all sight) +5 (5pp)

Deflect (All Ranged, Free, Medium: Water) +10 (30pp)
Super Move: Water Walk (2pp)
Super Sense: Detect Water (mental, range, radius, acute) +4 (4pp)
Swimming +4 (4pp)

EQUIPEMENT
Equipment

COST
Abilities [25]
Combat [36]
Saves [11]
Skills [10]
Feats [10]
Powers [88]
Drawbacks [XX]
Total [180]
Unspent [0]

NOTES
Real Name: Astrid Moore
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 120lbs
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Nationality: American (northeasterner)
Ethnicity: White
Tradeoffs: None
[/sblock]

Okay, here are a couple concepts I've come up with -- no names yet:

* A shut-in antisocial Japanese otaku, who just wants to be left alone but winds up being shipped halfway around the world when it turns out that he has mutant power. His ability is to animate things, infusing them with his own will and creating "friends" for himself.
* A demonic-looking creature with natural weapons and superior strength and speed. He was once the archetypal all-American golden boy, but after his powers began to manifest he was rejected as a freak.
* As mentioned above, Molly from Runaways, known sometimes as Bruiser or Princess Powerful. For those not familiar with the series, she's basically an obnoxious but kinda cute little girl who can become super-strong and tough. Since we can play with continuity in this game, if I do play her it'll be an AU version where she never learned that her parents were supervillains.

I'm interested in joining.

LLarona: A 16 year old Latino girl. Her mutant powers, to her horror, began to develop during and after her Quinceañera, her 15th birthday celebration. Her body became insubstantial (which allows her to fly) and worst of all, she discovered that her touch has the ability to affect the life force of others. She discovered her mutant abilities during during her "first dance" when her father passed out and fell through her arms. Fortunately for "Llarona" no one noticed that her body had became vaporous as she rushed to her father's side.

PRIMAL

Real Name: Peter of the Fall People
Identity: Secret
Occupation: (current) Adventurer, student
Legal Status: Savage Land citizen, now living in the United States under a special arrangement made for him by Lord Kevin Plunder, with no criminal record; now naturalized American citizen
Place of Birth: Pangea, Antartica
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Piotr (Peter) Nikolaievitch Rasputin (aka Colossus, father), Nereel (mother), Nikolai Rasputin (grandfather, deceased), Alexandra Rasputina (grandmother, deceased), Illyana Nikolovna Rasputina (anglicized to Rasputin, aka Magik, aunt, deceased), Mikhail Rasputin (uncle, deceased)
Base of Operations: (current) Professor Charles Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning, Salem Center, Westchester County
Group Affiliation: Mutant High
First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #12


History: During his early days with the X-Men, while in the Savage Land, Piotr (aka Colossus) had an encounter with two native women, Nereel and Shakani, who wished to make love with him after Colossus saved them from a thunder lizard. Nereel wished to bring new blood into their tribe. Piotr made love for the first time. (Uncanny X-Men #115)

The fruits of their union was a son, Peter, born long after Piotr, the elder, left the Savage Land. Colossus is unaware that Peter is his son, despite having met him. (Uncanny X-Men Annual #12)

Peter grew up with his tribe The Fall People in the Savage Land, during this time he was taken under the wing of Ka-Zar (aka Lord Kevin Plunder) learning traditional hunting and survival skills needed in Pangea.

Recently it was discovered Peter, now in his early teens, could take on the attributes of various prehistoric creatures. Creatures he was all to familiar with in the Savage Land.

At the behest of Ka-Zar and his mother Nereel, Peter has been thrown into Modern Society to attend school and cope with his newfound abilities. He bears a gift from his mentor; a hunting knife composed of "Anti-Metal" (Antartic Vibranium).

Height: (normal) 6 ft. 6 in. (shifting) Varies
Weight: (normal) 250 lbs. (shifting) Varies
Eyes: Blue, (shifting) Varies
Hair: Black

Strength Level: In his normal human form Peter possesses the normal human strength of a boy of his age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise. While shifting he possesses superhuman strength that varies in intensity.

Special Skills: Skilled Hunter and Tracker, passing familiarity with Atlantean technology.

Known Superhuman Powers: Primal is a mutant metamorph who can, through mental concentration, transform himself into a prehistoric creature, while retaining most of his human intelligence, or into a transitional form which combines both human and animalistic aspects.






Okay, the the whole Colossus having a son from the Savage Land and not knowing it is actually true and in current Marvel continuity. Doing anything with that fact is all me.
I wanted to do an original character that had strong ties to the X-Men Universe. I think this is a perfect combo.

And here's Facade! I'm not quite as sure about this build...the non-shapeshifting powers (particularly the huge regen) were spencier than I anticipated, so her shifting pool isn't very big. Then again, it probably doesn't have to be. Facade is not a combat character generally speaking. She has good combat stats as far as attack and defense and durability go, but not much in the way of offense. On the other hand, she's a nightmare for infiltration purposes.

The protection doesn't represent armor or impossible to break skin. Rather, it represents the amount of damage her body can -instantly- regenerate, as well as a body that has no vital points that can't be made redundant at a moment's notice and thus a great deal of resistance to blows that would normally be devastating (head hits, chest/heart hits, etc). See also her immunity to crits.

[sblock=Facade]CODENAME Facade
Concept/Archetype: Shapeshifter
Power Level: 11
Power Points: 180
Experience Points:
Hero Points: 1

ABILITIES 25
STR 10 +0 (0 PP)
DEX 10 +0 (0 PP)
CON 11 +0 (1 PP)
INT 16 +3 (6 PP)
WIS 18 +3 (8 PP)
CHA 20 +5 (10 PP)

SAVES 10
TOUG +11 (0 Con + + 2 Feat + 9 Power)
FORT +4 (4 Base + 0 Con) (4 PP)
REF +3 (3 Base + 0 Dex) (3 PP)
WILL +7 (3 Base + 4 Wis) (3 PP)

COMBAT 36
INIT +4
BASE DEF +9 (18 PP)
DEF 19 (10 + 9 Base)
FLAT-FOOTED 14
BASE ATT +9 (18 PP)

ATTACK
Melee:Attack +X (DC XX SAVE, CRIT, TYPE)
Ranged:Attack +X (DC XX SAVE, CRIT, RANGE, TYPE)

SKILLS 44 SP (11 PP)
Bluff +10 (5 ranks + 5 Cha)
Diplomacy +10 (5 ranks + 5 Cha)
Disguise +25 (5 ranks + 5 Cha + 15 Power)
Gather Information +10 (5 ranks + 5 Cha)
Intimidate +10 (5 ranks + 5 Cha)
Knowledge: Streetwise +5 (2 ranks + 3 Int)
Notice +10 (6 ranks + 4 Wis)
Sense Motive +15 (11 ranks + 4 Wis)

LANGUAGES (0 Ranks)
All

MOVEMENT
SPEED 30/60/120

FEATS 10
Attractive 2
Defensive Roll 2
Improved Initiative 1
Quick Change 2
Distract 1
Fascinate 1
Jack of All Trades 1

POWERS
Shapeshifting +4 (32pp)

Comprehend (speak/understand all languages) +2 (4pp)
Immunity (aging, poison, disease, critical hits, suffocation) +7 (7pp)
Morph (any humanoid) +3 (6pp)
Protection +9 (9pp)
Regeneration (+9 recovery, recover bruise/injure/disable w/no rest, rezz in 5 min) +30

(30pp)

EQUIPEMENT
Equipment

COST
Abilities [25]
Combat [34]
Saves [10]
Skills [10]
Feats [10]
Powers [88]
Drawbacks [XX]
Total [180]
Unspent [0]

NOTES
Real Name: ?
Gender: ?
Age: ?
Height: ?
Weight: ?
Hair: ?
Eyes: ?
Nationality: ?
Ethnicity: ?
Tradeoffs: None
[/sblock]

After looking at both, I'm leaning towards Calypso. Her character seems more defined to me (not surprising, since a major ingredient of Facade is exactly how UNdefined she is) and probably more fun to play in traditional X-Men situations. But if Calypso buys it (since she is fairly fragile) then I can bring Facade in, knowing that it's very unlikely she'll meet the same fate.