Chris Goodwin's new character

[Chris Goodwin]

I'd love some assistance coming up with better hero name.  Mr. X was kind of a placeholder...

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

Height: 179 cm (5'10")
Weight: 100 kg (220 pounds)
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown

Background/History:  James Reston had started an aerospace engineering business, Reston Engineering and Aerospace Partners (REAP), with a friend and business partner.   The former friend took over the company, threw him out, and attempted to have him killed.  Reston took with him what he could, in both prototypes and information.  In the meantime he discovered his former partner selling to groups like VIPER.  

Personality/Motivation:  His designs are being used to commit crimes and harm people, so he's built up his prototypes into a full modular powered armor suit in order to fight against them.  

Appearance:  As Mr. X, Jim Reston wears a white powered armor suit with a black X across the chest.  Outside of the suit, he has a pretty generic white guy look.  Brown hair, brown eyes.  

See attachment for exported PDF.

--

Chris Goodwin

cgoodw...@gmail.com

[Chris Goodwin]

And already I'm updating it.  I didn't re-export before I sent.  Here's the current version.  Use this one, not the previous one.

[Ian Sheadel]

Hey Chris,

Naming:  Not a ton comes to mind initially.  But, the first big one of course would be Reaper, which I thought was something you were moving toward with the REAP acronym.  Your primary background mission is to recover you company, plans, and good name from the betrayer, such as the Grim Reaper comes to all to bring them the inescapable justice they hath wrought...  If not that, I would try to find something cool with Aero in it, but I don't have any amazing ideas for you, haha.

Story/Concept:

    I really like how tightly and neatly you've constructed your story.  The sister working for REAP is a hugely interesting knot with some potential for alot of inner turmoil and danger to her.  If your partner knows she's your sister, he basically has a directly line to kick you right where it hurts, which gives him power over you.  Add to this your desire not to kill anyone, you're fighting an uphill battle to be the bigger man, protect your sister, and still conquer this power hungry duplicitous butthead.  

Build:

   - Your Strength and Constitution are pretty high up for a 'generic white guy' scientist.  You also have 25 PD/ED, which is like having pretty fierce armor as a regular fleshy dude.  You could obviously rock that and just a superhumanly strong scientist for some reason.  You could also buy Str and Con / PD / ED bonuses that only exist while in the suit and get the OIF discount.  These could be purchased outside of the Multipower so they're always there while you're in the suit.  Just depends on how much of a human dude you want to / should be out of uniform and how dependent you are on the suit. 

   - Currently you cannot effectively fly and shoot at the same time.  This is conceivable ("I have to use the same engine that powers my jets in order to blast.") but will quite probably be a pain at some point.  Not a huge deal.

   - There is also the possibility that you could bring some of your integrated helmet systems as a multi-power instead of all separate.  Since they're such small purchases, it'll only save you a few points, but every point counts.  For example, do you expect to need Radar and Nightvision and Long Range Radar Perception simultaneously?  You might, if you want to see something a long ways off as a Perception check at night, and still be able to see behind you at the same time.  But you may not. 

~Ian

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CHAMPIONS of the Northwest" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to champions-of-the-no...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/champions-of-the-northwest/d7ac565a-5078-4d40-878f-eb8b8b0edfa9%40googlegroups.com.

[Kenn Durrence]

You cannot buy Enhanced Senses in a Multipower.

Also, I think his flight choice was due to points. Buying flight by itself is very pricey. Hence he bought the 60 active point MP, but only up to 50 active point powers. However, he can save points by making his offensive powers in the MP fixed instead of variable and just leave flight as variable. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/champions-of-the-northwest/CAGfngL-29%2Bq_e1hR8x%3DvGc6bVLaXphxwBOf%3D1%3DJ26G%2BapUddLw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Kenn Durrence]

For a name, he's a power armor guy, so you really can go any direction you want. The Reaper idea does seem the obvious choice, but doesn't sound very heroic. How about X-Calibur? Or just Excalibur to go with the Mr. X theme.

[Ian Sheadel]

Thanks Kenn!  

Sorry for the bad advisement Chris 🤪

And yes absolutely the flight is cheaper as part of the multi, just wanted to make note of a possible logistical cost. 

~Ian

[Kenn Durrence]

You gave great advice! :) You are totally right about the stats. I mean it IS power armor and all... I think it's part of loving Champions. Eye for detail and how to get blood from a stone...LOL

[Gotham]

With the whole high stats which Ian pointed out for a scientist did jump out at me as well. Good point. 

When I talked to Chris G at the game I noted that and he is going to make the adjustments.

 [Grim] Reaper is pretty dark hehe but yeah this is Gotham. Of course how much different is this name other than DOOMSKULL!

As for Kenn's comment, yeah I agree with him, people might take you for a super villain. 

A black suited character flies down from the sky and lands in the park "Hello citizen I am the REAPER"

Kid drops his ice cream and runs away screaming. 

For the concern of flight and not being able to attack. These are purchased as variable slots within the multipower which means that he can shift his points around. 

He could only use 10 points of flight (10 flight) and 50 points (10d6) in his blast. Or 30 points (30 flight) and 30 points (6d6) in his blast or any variation he sees fit.

Kenn is correct about not being able to purchase senses within a multipower but there are some ways around that if you truly believe they belong there.

[Chris B]

First, great advice, Ian!  I like your ideas, especially the name.

I think the stats thing was addressed, so I won't mention that except for the END.  Does the suit use the character's Endurance?  The PC has 40 END and I didn't see an END Reserve for the suit.  If the character's END was reduced to 10 or 15, that would transfer 25 - 30 END to an Endurance reserve power for the suit and the savings from Disadvantages should be enough to bring it up another 5-10 points. 

However, it is possible his personal stats and the END is because Jim is really an Android!!!! 😱 😉

On Mon, Aug 12, 2019 at 8:58 AM Gotham <portlan...@gmail.com> wrote:

 [Grim] Reaper is pretty dark hehe but yeah this is Gotham. Of course how much different is this name other than DOOMSKULL!

As for Kenn's comment, yeah I agree with him, people might take you for a super villain. 

A black suited character flies down from the sky and lands in the park "Hello citizen I am the REAPER"

Kid drops his ice cream and runs away screaming. 

Luckily, the Radiant Ranger already fixed this!  Remember, at her weekly press conference she introduced Mr X and Kid Splice (officially) as part of the team.  We can either assume the new name was in play the whole time or we just have a campaign that informs the citizens that Mr X is rebranded as The REAPER (Reaping Justice On Those Who Cause Harm!) 😎

[Chris Goodwin]

Thanks for the advice, all.  Some points: 

• I'd considered Reaper as a name, but figured that would have been an obvious tip off in-game.  
• REAP doesn't know that Kylie is his sister.  Inside, he's freaked out as hell that she joined the company, and he's afraid of what they'll do if they find out.  She's her own person, though, and specifically joined the company under an assumed name so as not to ride on her brother's coattails.  It was right around the time that Jim left.  
• I've known plenty of engineers (and he's more engineer than scientist anyway) who are borderline obsessive about physical fitness.  (I've also known plenty of engineers who are the opposite...)  I'm considering moving some of the stats out to the armor (PD and ED for sure), but for most of them it would be only for the point savings.  In Jim's case, yes he is pretty buff; 5'10" and 220 lbs, not a lot of flab.
• Good call on the END Reserve.  (Shades of old character builds rearing their heads.)  I won't be dropping his personal END down below 20, though.  
• I will tweak the Multipower some.  Hero Designer specifically warned me about putting Knockback Resistance in, but I did it anyway... and it turned out to almost be useless in play.  
• Enhanced Senses are expensive, and there's not much in the way of point reductions for them.  They can't go in Multipowers, for sure.  
• I've got a few point tweaks in mind already.  I'm not sure how many points that will free up in total.

In-universe, his tech is all Stark repulsor tech under another name.  (I'm not sure if this was ever a thing in the comics and movies or not, but my version has the degree of focus of the beam determining whether it's an attack or motive force.  So the "boot jets" are just another set of repulsors, and he can attack with them as readily as the ones in his hands.)  

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CHAMPIONS of the Northwest" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to champions-of-the-no...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/champions-of-the-northwest/CAL0d_S90GpEMoe%2B1-qYYeUwfofrYZmeuPvzUhBCJVdgWZvY-%3DQ%40mail.gmail.com.

--

Chris Goodwin

cgoodw...@gmail.com

[Gotham]

Enhanced Senses are expensive, and there's not much in the way of point reductions for them.  They can't go in Multipowers, for sure. 

Since the helmet is all one piece you could have all the senses reside in it. Each sense would be unified to this item (-1/4).

I've known plenty of engineers (and he's more engineer than scientist anyway) who are borderline obsessive about physical fitness.  (I've also known plenty of engineers who are the opposite...)  I'm considering moving some of the stats out to the armor (PD and ED for sure), but for most of them it would be only for the point savings.  In Jim's case, yes he is pretty buff; 5'10" and 220 lbs, not a lot of flab.

Having a strength of 20 is pretty darn buff in the game. Also having a speed of 4 is very fast for a scientist. As this is top notch of the human species (Olympic athlete, professional weight lifter, a professional sports person, or the such). Now if you say it's a mutant thing (or something like that) everything works out fine otherwise having multiple stats that are all peak human is stretching things - plus used to run a company plus was an engineer. It would also be difficult to gain high stats from crime fighting as you didn't do it previously from joining Sentinels. 

[Chris B]

On Mon, Aug 12, 2019 at 12:44 PM Chris Goodwin <cgoodw...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for the advice, all.  Some points: 

• I'd considered Reaper as a name, but figured that would have been an obvious tip off in-game. 

Well, I think we're all for it, if you wanted to use this name.  Even the CEO is onboard 😋

 

• REAP doesn't know that Kylie is his sister.  Inside, he's freaked out as hell that she joined the company, and he's afraid of what they'll do if they find out.  She's her own person, though, and specifically joined the company under an assumed name so as not to ride on her brother's coattails.  It was right around the time that Jim left.  

So, essentially, he has a mole inside the company.  This may make it easier to monitor them, and provide some drama.  I don't know what Kylie does there, but if she is a sales rep, then maybe she can have The Sentinels as an account.  Then, we at least have a conduit to her.

 

• I've known plenty of engineers (and he's more engineer than scientist anyway)...

I was going to mention this.  The science appears to be an after effect of all the engineering prep courses he needed to take.  While, I think Splicer is a scientist.

 

• ...who are borderline obsessive about physical fitness.  (I've also known plenty of engineers who are the opposite...)  I'm considering moving some of the stats out to the armor (PD and ED for sure), but for most of them it would be only for the point savings.  In Jim's case, yes he is pretty buff; 5'10" and 220 lbs, not a lot of flab.

Still, in context the book says a 25 strength can lift a horse and rider, and a 20 STR can lift a grizzly bear lol.  I think John uses the Characteristic Maxima Table on pg. 21 of Champions Complete, which has a limit of 20 for the base stats.  Stats can be increased above this via a power.  John, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

• Good call on the END Reserve.  (Shades of old character builds rearing their heads.)  I won't be dropping his personal END down below 20, though.  

That makes sense.  You can have more, but I've noticed armored suit characters don't seem to use their main stats too much (occasionally, but not often).  20 is the baseline END stat, so that's a normal person (you and me).

 

• I will tweak the Multipower some.  Hero Designer specifically warned me about putting Knockback Resistance in, but I did it anyway... and it turned out to almost be useless in play.

Patrick sometimes does this, and it does cause the effect to be used more rarely than hoped.  If I may suggest, if you build the character as we did when we started (with 300 CP), then you can add powers and items in smaller increments (10 -15 CP at a time) to simulate CP advancement, then you'll probably be able to prioritize a little bit better.  Also another point savings is to make the Environmental powers use END (you turn them on when needed and off when not).  Also, you can get rid of the 8d6 Blast AP and replace it with an Area of Effect or just keep the base blast.  Deflection is always fun, too; it makes John mad 😉. 

 

• Enhanced Senses are expensive, and there's not much in the way of point reductions for them.  They can't go in Multipowers, for sure.  

They can also be run from END if you need the point savings, adding Cannot Use targeting (-1/2) to the RADAR would allow it to work to detect targets but not use that shoot at them.  However if you want RADAR to be used for targeting, Nightvision is redundant. 

lastly, there is the glorious "Unified Power" or "Linked".  However if one system is down, then the whole suit goes out 😉.

In-universe, his tech is all Stark repulsor tech under another name.  (I'm not sure if this was ever a thing in the comics and movies or not, but my version has the degree of focus of the beam determining whether it's an attack or motive force.  So the "boot jets" are just another set of repulsors, and he can attack with them as readily as the ones in his hands.)  

Do you need "Alterable Origin Point" to shoot from hands and feet?

Overall, I though he was very effective last session.  Instead of charging or punching, melee characters need to learn to use a light pole as an improvised bat 😂

[Mark Jones]

Sent with ProtonMail Secure Email.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

On Monday, August 12, 2019 1:21 PM, Chris B <chrisj...@gmail.com> wrote:

Patrick sometimes does this, and it does cause the effect to be used more rarely than hoped.  If I may suggest, if you build the character as we did when we started (with 300 CP), then you can add powers and items in smaller increments (10 -15 CP at a time) to simulate CP advancement, then you'll probably be able to prioritize a little bit better.  Also another point savings is to make the Environmental powers use END (you turn them on when needed and off when not).  Also, you can get rid of the 8d6 Blast AP and replace it with an Area of Effect or just keep the base blast.  Deflection is always fun, too; it makes John mad 😉. 

I would counsel against Life Support powers that require you to activate them. Usually the first sign that you need them is when you get hit with an attack. Sure, you can seal up your armor (or hold your breath in the case of Iron Maiden or Rose Hancock), but by then it's too late. You've already suffered the effects.

[Chris B]

Shush you, I'm thinkin'  😋

What if it was always on but uses END (1 or 2 with the build)?

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CHAMPIONS of the Northwest" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to champions-of-the-no...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/champions-of-the-northwest/FY0Y7Bpi2j_LjPC8R2LUNT3-H-_z8yt5RtxZ8F6QrOQyRVohOw3UdFwuyclECDcQjN1EuxxFCn1YBTKpXkphzByWOH8-ft4fVDWnZC79h1k%3D%40protonmail.com.