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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Samnell" data-source="post: 4306629" data-attributes="member: 130">Agamon, I'm definitely doing the shadow guy if it helps you prepare any. Still struggling with the details of his concept and which powers will be involved. Some thinking in draft form below.[sblock]Male Australian, 15 or 16. No present psychological issues related to his powers. I'll probably give him an alliterative name again. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Currently thinking fist name is Jared, shortened to Jerry.He spent his early years in Dad's surf shop. Mom has been out of the picture since birth and may or may not still be alive. The shop was about 75% hangout for Dad and the local surfers and 25% business. It made enough to stay open and keep them in food, but not a lot else. They lived in an apartment above the shop.Dad's not a monster, but he never had much interest in parenting either. He drinks a fair bit and smokes pot regularly, often in front of the kid, but he's not especially violent or cruelly neglectful. The kid more or less is left to fend for himself. If he comes home fairly regularly for meals and doesn't show any bodily harm, Dad doesn't care enough to ask questions.So the kid grows up fairly wild, living on the beach and running with friends. Someone taught him how to swim and surf and that's what his life was all about. He loves the sun, sand, and especially the water. It's not a therapeutic thing like Mark's hook was. It might have a spiritual tinge to it. He feels like he's one with the universe when he's immersed, or the ocean and beach are his personal metaphor for life.This is kind of where I lose the plot. Such a kid would definitely have issues with authority being imposed on him and crave attention, complicating discipline. Punishing him gives him all the attention Dad never had and the more you restrict him the more he'll rebel and feel validated. Sending him back home puts him with Bad Influence Dad and his Bad Influence Friends, where he's the coolest kid on the beach because even if he cut class for a week his Dad just told him not to do it again and said no more.I've been kicking around having him bounce through a few foster homes before he lands with somebody that figures out a combination of praise for performance and no attention at all for transgressions might work with him. This becomes a longer-term thing since the kid seems to be improving a little, but now he's socially isolated (all his friends are on the beach) and going to a different school. He's allowed to go to a beach, but not the same beach, so something has to fill that void or it becomes a new source of problems.I'm not exactly sure where to go from there. He really, really craves attention and he needs some kind of physical and social outlet. He can already swim and my research says it's hugely popular in Australia, so maybe he can be hooked up with a coach or trainer and a social setting that isn't all about how cool it is that he had a life as a total bum and got away with it for a while. But I don't want him perfectly fixed into a shiny happy person either because that would get boring to play. He needs some inner conflict and angst. I'm not sure exactly where the powers come in yet. I'd prefer to not have them be the direct source of any angst, because I'd like to subvert the common connection between dark powers and dark moods. He's not fretting "oh no, is my power sentient evil and where does it come from?" At the same time I don't want to revisit the implied sexual abuse and drugs issues Mark had. That's kind of taking the damaged aspect to eleven. It's ok with me if it's a bit like Mark but I don't want him to be Mark exactly.I'm open to suggestions on what comes next and what would make a good angst-fuel. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />[/sblock]As for powers:[sblock]I'm thinking (without crunching the points) a combination of a little bit of Protection and Regeneration as the basic effect of his new physiology. The regeneration would probably improve over time, the protection not so much. Maybe a couple of stray immunities. These are partly flavor. His blood is this weird internal shadowstuff so it makes intuitive sense that his body workings are a bit superhuman and different.The marquee powers would be TK and/or Teleport. Both are relatively cheap as base powers (2pp/rank). His protection and regeneration have basic survival in combat covered, so these are options should things come to a fight. Since light fuels his inner shadow, I'd avoid the obvious teleportation only through shadows limit. It doesn't make sense for his paradoxical shadowstuff nature.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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