"Necessary Evil" OOC

[Jemal]

I've got much of Siren done, just working out the particulars of how to price/organize her powers.

Here's what I have at the moment, but the Psychic array is a bit of a mess, and not all the math is correct. It's a good idea of the general way I'm going though.

[sblock=Siren]
Ondina Naiada AKA Siren - PL 10 (153 pp)
Abilities: 22pp
STR 0 (2)
STA 1 (3)
DEX 2 (4)
AGI 2 (4)
FGT 2
INT 0
AWE 2
PRE 4

Offenses:
Initiative: +4 (4 agi)
Melee Attack: +4 (2 fgt +2 feat)
Ranged Attack: +4 (4 dex)
Specific Attacks:
TK Blast:+8, DC 27 Toughness, Linked Affliction DC 22
Psychic Knife: +8 Melee, DC 27 Toughness

Defenses: (23pp)
Dodge: +11 (7 base + 4 agi)
Parry: +11 (9 base + 2 fgt)
Toughness: +9 (3 sta + 6 Protection)
Fort +7 (3 sta + 4 enhanced)
Will +13 (7 base + 2 awe + 4 enhanced)

Skills: (80 ranks= 20 pp)
Acrobatics(+16/12), Athletics(+10/8), Deception(+20/16), Perception(+14/12), Persuasion(+18/14), Sleight of Hand(+10/6), Stealth(+16/12) *+5 to checks where Attractiveness Matters*

Advantages: 7
Attractive 2, Benefit(Atlantean Royalty), Close AttackX2, Favoured Environment(Underwater), Uncanny Dodge

Powers:
Comprehend Rank 2: Animals(Speak to and understand), Flaw:Sea Creatures only(-1) - 2pp

Atlantean Container: [Racial, Innate] (8pp)
Immunity 3: High Pressure, Cold Environments, Drowning - 3pp
Super Senses 3: Sonar(Accurate Ultrasonic Hearing) - 3pp
Swimming 2: 2mph(30/round) -2pp
Feature/quirk: Sense/Be Sensed by other Aquatic Telepaths - 0 pp

Psychic Array [descriptor: Mental] (40 point pool +9 Alternates = 49 pp)
Illusion 10 (All Senses, Selective+1, Resistable by will-1, Diminished range-1): 4/rank=40
-**1,000 Cubic feet**
TK Blast(38) Alt Effect +1pp
-Damage 12 (Ranged+1, Accuratex2) *Linked:Stunning Force* 2/rank+2=26+12 Linked=38*
-Linked: Afffliction 12 (Ranged+1, Instant Recovery-1) - *1/rank=12*
-**Affliction: Fort save, causes Dazed; Prone; Incapacitaed**
Psychic Knife(12) Dynamic +2pp
-Damage 12 (Incurable, AccurateX2) Dynamic *1/rank+3=15*
Mind Reading (30) Dynamic +2pp
-Mind Reading 10 (Area Burst+2, Ranged-1) *3/rank=30*
Telepathy(19) Dynamic +2pp
-Communication 2, Mental (Area+1, Selective+1, Subtle) *6/rank+1=13 +enhanced 6 =19*
-Enhanced Communication 2 (Limited: Familiarity-1) *3/rank=6*
Siren Song() Dynamic +2pp
-Affliction 10 (Area , Selective+1, Insidious,

Atlantean Outfit(Armour & Tiara set): [Removable, Noticeable] - (23pp)
Protection 6 - 6pp
Enhanced Abilities: +2 Sta +2 Str +2 Dex +2 Agi - 16pp
Enhanced Saves: +4 fort/will - 8pp


Complications: Vulnerable to Heat, Motivation- Protecting Atlantis.

COST: 22 Abilities + 20 Skills + 7 Advantages + 23 defenses + 82 Powers = 152/153
[/sblock]

 

[Walking Dad]

Alright, don't forget that skill ppoints are now more expensive than before. You get only 2 skill points for 1 power point.

 

[jkason]

Sorry it's taken me so long to come up with anything at all, but I've just felt really uninspired by Brick for a while now; he's just not felt very dynamic either in powers or personality, so I've been trying to mull on some changes that might spice him up for me without totally changing his role. As I think I mentioned, my IC reasoning for the change would be some unexpected biological interaction with the power core in the first lab and / or the mutated genetic material he was exposed to in the second. Somewhere in there, Brick's own powers wound up twisting.

The two ideas I came up with were a kind of kinetic absorption (where Brick is less strong normally, but gets stronger the more he gets hit), and / or some level of size changing (the thought here being that his body would now have to reflect on some level how strong he's getting, growing as he 'powers up). The latter has some more appeal to me, though I seem to recall M&M makes size changing very expensive. I'm trying to price things out now.

My hope is that the change might provide a smidge more versatility to the character, and the need for him to adjust to the new way his body / powers work might give him some more personality to play with.

 

[Walking Dad]

The size changing itself is just increased speed and intimidate while loosing stealth. The actual cost stays roughly the same as buying Str and Sta separately and decreasing your Parry/Dodge.
For just getting more mass and leaving cracks in the floor see density increase, a +0 modifier in the free 2e to 3rd conversion pdf. We could do something similar here.

 

[jkason]

The size changing itself is just increased speed and intimidate while loosing stealth. The actual cost stays roughly the same as buying Str and Sta separately and decreasing your Parry/Dodge.
For just getting more mass and leaving cracks in the floor see density increase, a +0 modifier in the free 2e to 3rd conversion pdf. We could do something similar here.

Well, I was kind of liking the visual punch of having him grow and shrink, with fluff something like this:

In the wake of exposure to non-terrestrial energy sources and the unknown mutagenic cells of a creature, Brick's own cellular structure has taken on a malleability. He discovered that his own rate of healing had drastically increased. However, he also seemed to have lost his natural strength.

The powerhouse within him wasn't gone, however, but his strength and toughness now required him to 'bulk up.' Similarly, he's discovered he can contract his cellular mass, gaining some of the stealth and maneuverability he hadn't previously enjoyed, though in this case, he is even weaker than a normal human. His body appears to have taken its "fight or flight" responses to an extreme, forcing him to in all cases choose a state which is only helpful for one of the choices.

Furthermore, the energy to size change appears to rob his body of its newfound healing, such that he must expose himself to great harm in order to heal from damage taken.

Basically, I've been tinkering with a 'malleable cellular structure' array: He can grow big and tough again, but he's fairly easy to hit; he can become quite difficult to hit, but he has little offensive capability; or, as a 'normal human' he can heal quickly, but as I said, he's not getting the benefits of super-toughness or super-dodginess, so it's unlikely he'd be able to use that in a fight.

Possibly it's too much of a change on the concept, I don't know. And I realized we've had a lot of narrow tunnel fights, so it might also be terribly problematic. Like I said, though, I was mostly trying for something that was more ... dynamic, so that maybe the character himself might be more so. As he stood, I've just found him really boring / uninspiring: he's a straight-line do-gooder who jumps in an hits stuff. I just didn't give myself much to play with there, which was my own fault, I know.

If size-changing doesn't work, maybe a density variant might be good, where the opposite isn't shrinking, but some level of insubstantial. I'd still like to keep the 'heals fast when most vulnerable' element, though, and I think the fluff above might still work with relatively little tweaking.

Opinions?

 

[Thanee]

Those powers are quite a bit different in 3rd... still working on it, but I'm close to finished now.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Walking Dad]

jkason, I already voiced my concern for fights in narrow areas Other then that, would the "sized-up" form your only one with any offensive capabilities?

Density shifting sounds interesting, too.

Side note: If you are just frustrated by your options, I would allow "strength tricks" like

Shockwave: Burst Area Damage 10, Limited: Both the Powerhouse and its targets must be in contact with the ground • 1 point
• Groundstrike: Burst Area Affliction 10 (Resisted by Fortitude; Vulnerable, Defenseless), Instant Recovery, Limited Degree, Limited: Both the Powerhouse and its targets must be in contact with the ground • 1 point

as alternate powers to Bricks Str ability.

 

[jkason]

jkason, I already voiced my concern for fights in narrow areas Other then that, would the "sized-up" form your only one with any offensive capabilities?

I think so, which would obviously be problematic. I'll probably look at the density option, instead, since you seem to be open to it.

Side note: If you are just frustrated by your options, I would allow "strength tricks" like

Shockwave: Burst Area Damage 10, Limited: Both the Powerhouse and its targets must be in contact with the ground • 1 point
• Groundstrike: Burst Area Affliction 10 (Resisted by Fortitude; Vulnerable, Defenseless), Instant Recovery, Limited Degree, Limited: Both the Powerhouse and its targets must be in contact with the ground • 1 point

as alternate powers to Bricks Str ability.

He already has those in his current build, but all the close-quarters fighting means he's only used those abilities maybe once? And in general, I think it's not so much that I want more hitting options so much as a bit more versatility in general. I find he's really not very useful other than when things need lifting, hitting, or maybe holding down so other people can hit them.

The shifting form element (was size-changing, now density) will hopefully give him something to do / contribute when we want options other than a frontal assault. And, like I said, having his powers suddenly be variable might also provide some interesting character development as he has to actually start thinking about what he's doing instead of just asking someone to aim his punches.

 

[Walking Dad]

Alright, I already suspected the change was also for more non-combat options.

Last thought:
How do you like Material Mimicry? I always liked the power of Absorbing / Amazing Man.

Material Mimicry (Variable, Mimic the properties of inorganic materials he touches)
7pp / rank

gives a lot of options with liquids and gases added.
Just a thought.

 

[jkason]

Last thought:
How do you like Material Mimicry? I always liked the power of Absorbing / Amazing Man.

Material Mimicry (Variable, Mimic the properties of inorganic materials he touches)
7pp / rank

gives a lot of options with liquids and gases added.
Just a thought.

it would fit with the 'malleable cells' idea. I'll have to give it a look and figure out if it would have too much of shapechange's logistics issues (I don't want to have to constantly re-stat him). I'll let you know. Thanks for the help!