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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8638003" data-attributes="member: 30538">The Maniac<img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-zpZDKft/0/c18581fd/M/ezgif-4-c1bcd89af4-M.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />He only has vague memories of his prior existence, mostly focused on how it ended, and even those are not terribly clear. He was holding up a great mass of rock, as other men ... were they helping him, or just trying to escape? Perhaps it matters little. His last thought was the realization that the weight was too much for him, despite everything, and then darkness. And then light, but not the light that he had hoped for, despite everything. A different, darker light, seen through the distortion of a fluid and then a glass barrier beyond that. There were people, or at least things that looked like people, in the light, and he could hear though not understand their speech. Until he did, and one of them said to him -- or perhaps just of him -- "We will make you stronger yet." Then darkness fell.When it lifted again, he was as he is now, and standing before the young woman whom he would come to know as his first master. She had a grudge against the hero known as Pallas, and some other enemies of the hero had decided to assist her to resolve that grudge by bestowing on her the ankh-shaped talisman that allowed her to command him. While the situation was quite strange, he felt no confusion. There was work to be done and he was the one to do it. Neither was he bothered by the fact that the sight of him made most people scream and run in terror. He would only hurt them if he must in order to obey the commands of his master, but if so, all bets were off. To them, he seemed like a maniac, and that was what they called him.However, there then occurred some events which his creators, if that was what they were, could not have anticipated. During his third fight with Pallas, the life of his master was put in danger, with her slipping off the edge of the rooftop where he and Pallas were contending. Pallas was the one to save her life, not him, which led to her opinions about the hero shifting slightly. Subsequent events would make her abandon it altogether, and also lead to her deciding that it was a cruel and contemptible act to use the Maniac as a weapon -- no, be honest, as a slave. So she gave him the talisman and told him to be his own master, now.Unfortunately, that did not work. Perhaps the creators had anticipated that the talisman might come into his hands somehow, and installed a countermeasure in his neural programming to prevent just this circumstance. When he has the talisman in his possession, he enters a state of dormancy that only ends when someone takes it from him. Before you ask, no, he cannot prevent this by holding tightly to the talisman, as it will slip out of his fingers as soon as someone else touches it. Whoever takes up the talisman gains the Maniac as a protector, and if they want to be protected through pre-emptive attack, they will be. When it is not in the possession of anyone, he will invariably head to where it is, take it up, and go dormant.The talisman has passed through a number of hands in the five years since it and the Maniac first appeared on the World More Grim -- good people, bad people, and a whole swath of people who were in over their head. Once, when the Superhuman Crew were in desperate straits, they recruited his help by having Snow White "persuade" his current master to give her the talisman, and then gave it back to the Maniac in the aftermath while putting him in a situation where he should have been difficult to find. "Should have" is the word for it, though, as he was in the control of a new master within a week. Pallas has stated that she thinks her extended family is using the Maniac as a catspaw, though she can perceive no pattern to his masters.While the Maniac will do whatever his master commands without objection, it has been noted that he never hurts anyone that his master did not specifically command him to hurt, and that he works to prevent harm to those who are uninvolved in his current conflict -- unless commanded otherwise. He fights smartly, using only what force he needs to accomplish his task -- unless commanded otherwise. He has exactly one limit: nothing, no matter what, will ever compel him to harm April Danza, his first master. While he has not seen her since she tried to give him his freedom, the Maniac has never forgotten her. The memory of her is the one tiny light in the darkness of his existence.The Maniac -- PL 13Abilities:STR 16/13 | STA 15 | AGL 0 | DEX 2 | FGT 8 | INT 3 | AWE 5 | PRE 5Powers:"And His Anger Grows": Enhanced Strength 3, Builds* - 4 points Helm: Immortality 10 (one hour); Protection 3; Removable (-4 points) - 19 pointsImpervious Body: Impervious Toughness 15 - 15 pointsResistant Mind: Immunity 20 (mental effects), Limited to half effect - 10 pointsStrange Bond: Senses 10 (detect talisman [accurate, extended 3, penetrates concealment]) - 10 pointsStrength Beyond Imagination: Enhanced Strength 14 (3200 ktons/25000 ktons), Limited to lifting  - 14 pointsSwift Movement: Leaping 12 (4 miles); Speed 4 (30 MPH) - 16 pointsTricks: Array (26 points) <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Foot Stomp: Line Area Damage 13 - 26 points</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Shockwave: Burst Area Affliction 13 (Resisted by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated) - 1 point</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Thrown Object: Ranged Damage 16; Removable (-6 points) - 1 point</li> </ul>Advantages:Accurate Attack, All-out Attack, Assessment, Close Attack 2, Defensive Attack, Improved Defense, Improved Hold, Improved Smash, Interpose, Jack-of-all-trades, Power Attack, Startle, Tracking, Weapon Break.Skills:Insight 6 (+10), Intimidation 6 (+11), Perception 4 (+9), Ranged Combat: Throwing 6 (+8).Offense:Initiative +0Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 16/13)Thrown Object +8 (Ranged Damage 16)Defense:Dodge 6, Parry 8, Fortitude 15, Toughness 18, Will 9Totals:Abilities 102 + Powers 116 + Advantages 15 + Skills 11 + Defenses 10 = 254 pointsOffensive PL: 13Defensive PL: 13Resistance PL: 12Skill PL: 6Complications:Obedience--Motivation. Does Not Talk. Love (April Danza.) Reputation (horrible monster.) * This flaw is the opposite of the Fades flaw. The first turn that this effect is activated, only 1 rank of it is available, with 1 rank becoming available at the start of each turn that the effect is used. When the character stops using the effect, it drops back to no ranks active and must build up again. It can only be applied to effects that have more than one rank, and never applies to the first rank of an effect (which is always available and thus not flawed.)Note: The talisman possesses no powers in and of itself. If held in hand, it can be disarmed in combat, but the owner does not have to do so in order to command the Maniac, which they can do as a free action.</blockquote>

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