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True Believer
In 2007, Janet Hinkley was a grad student studying to obtain a Master's Degree in Education at Teachers College, and her concerns were those typical of someone in that position -- worries about whether following this path would lead to emotional fulfillment and a reasonable degree of financial success or to emotional devastation and financial ruin, or possibly some middle ground between the two. She'd never met any superheroes, and didn't honestly find them very interesting. They existed, they'd saved the world from threats she didn't really understand, and that was a good thing, but celebrating them wasn't high on her list of personal priorities.
And her life got turned upside down when she was walking home down a sidewalk along a deserted street one evening. A vehicle looking like a car out of a science fiction movie exploded out of nothingness on the street, and screeched to a halt right in front of her. Before Janet's stunned eyes, the driver's side door opened and a tall man wearing a strange costume stepped out, walked up to her and handed her one just like it, saying, "You wear this." She didn't get a chance to say anything in response before he turned around, got back into the car, and drove off to disappear in a flash of light. All of this would have been shocking enough, but then a trio of similar looking cars burst into and then back out of sight in quick succession, this time without stopping, as though pursuing the first one.
Dazedly, Janet made her way back to her apartment, and there took a long look at the costume she'd been handed. She's really not sure why she decided to see what it looked like when she was, as the stranger had said, wearing it, but that's what she did. Finding it not really all that flattering, she was startled to see its appearance changing to match her thoughts. Some quick experimentation revealed that it also granted her a number of super-powers beyond that, though she found herself wishing that the suit came with an instruction manual. But that was clearly not to be.
Janet spent a whole week studying the suit's abilities, and carefully considering what she was supposed to do with them. She didn't feel particularly confident about becoming a superhero, but she knew that she'd never be able to live with herself if she just let bad things happen now that she had the power to do something about them. And after all, there had to be some deep meaning to the fact that she, of all people, had been handed this thing -- she'd been told '
you wear this'. So she shaped the thing into something that suited her patriotic ideal of what a superhero costume should look like, and became the True Believer.
It went pretty well. she helped take a further bite out of crime in the Big Apple, opposed supervillains when they showed up, and managed to keep her identity a secret. She met a number of the members of the Powerhouse early on, and suspected that she was being scouted as a potential member. But no invitation ever materialized, and Janet concluded they must have decided that she probably didn't bring anything to the table that O Homen de Oro hadn't already brought. Oh well.
A few years later, though, the American Angel contacted her with an offer to get in on the ground floor of Heroic Enterprises. Flattered by the offer, and happy to be working with some other patriotic heroes, she accepted ... much to her eventual regret. She hung around almost as long as Doctor Sapien, but the business with the Bridge (which happened while she was recuperating from another episode) was the last straw. She tendered her resignation right before the company was kicked out of California, and decided to seek fresher pastures back east.
Settling in Philadelphia has been exciting and challenging. She's finally getting some use out of that Education degree by getting a job teaching at one of the city's noisier public schools, and dealing with the fact that everyone there expects her to either burn out or flame out in a fairly short time. Well, she'll just see about that. She's also become a mentor figure of sorts to Philadelphia's somewhat notorious super-team, the Minor League, trying to help them to live up to the potential she sees in them. She sometimes thinks that they have the same expectation about her burnout or flameout, but again, she's going to show them that they're wrong.
While quite patriotic, and somewhat conservative -- she openly voices her disapproval of the more sexualized costumes of some of the Minor League -- True Believer dislikes and disapproves of the Millar administration. However, she would never express that disapproval publicly as a superhero; she feels that doing so is the first step towards becoming a super-powered demagogue who uses her unelected power to sway the public to her will. Whatever political work she does will only ever be as Janet Hinkley, not as True Believer.
More than anything else, Janet wonders whether she's using these abilities as the person who gave them to her intended her to do so. It's probably for the best she doesn't realize that the suit's primary function is that of a camera recording footage for the equivalent of reality TV a bit less than two hundred years in the future. That would probably break her heart.
True Believer - PL 10
Abilities:
STR 9/2 |
STA 1 |
AGL 3 |
DEX 2 |
FGT 2 |
INT 3 |
AWE 3 |
PRE 2
Powers:
The Suit:
- Camouflage: Morph 2 (clothes), Only changes appearance of suit - 8 points
- Defensive Field: Immunity 10 (life support); Impervious Protection 9 - 28 points
- Enhanced Mobility: Enhanced Defenses 12 (Dodge 6, Parry 6); Flight 9 (1000 MPH) - 30 points
- Offensive Settings: Array (20 points)
- Force Blast: Ranged Damage 10 - 20 points
- Strength Booster: Enhanced Advantage (Close Attack 6); Enhanced Strength 7 - 1 point
- Stun Blast: Ranged Cumulative Affliction 10 (Resisted by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned), Limited Degree - 1 point
- Tractor Beam: Move Object 10 - 1 point
- Sensory Functions: Senses 6 (extended vision 2, extended hearing 2, low-light vision, ultrahearing) - 6 points
Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Connected, Defensive Attack, Evasion, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Luck 2, Redirect, Teamwork.
Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+9), Deception 6 (+8), Expertise: Civics 4 (+7), Expertise: History 4 (+7), Expertise: Science 4 (+7), Insight 4 (+7), Perception 5 (+8), Persuasion 5 (+7), Ranged Combat: Suit Powers 8 (+10), Technology 4 (+7).
Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +8/+2 (Close Damage 9/+2)
Force Blast +10 (Ranged Damage 10)
Stun Blast +10 (Ranged Fortitude 10)
Defense:
Dodge 10/4, Parry 9/3, Fortitude 3, Toughness 10/1, Will 7
Totals:
Abilities 32 + Powers 95 + Advantages 10 + Skills 25 + Defenses 8 = 170 points
Complications:
Doing Good--Motivation. Patriotic. Power Loss (The Suit, can't be removed involuntarily when worn but can be easily removed if it's not being worn).
Responsibility (the Minor League).
Secret Identity.