Aardvark's builds

[-HF-Aardvark892]

I just can't wait to share this with you. I haven't even had time to start building this character. My wife came up with the concept, and I'm totally diggin' it:

PORTAL
Imagine a being whose whole existence is to be a portal into another dimension. He summons SuperHeroes from other dimensions to defeat evil, and when they've won, they toss the bad guy INTO portal, who then traps them in an inescapable dimension. PORTAL looks like a human shaped mass of stars. It's like the Gateway power but as his form.

I know it's a little vague... I'm not sure how I'm gonna build this yet. I want it to basically be the Gateway power with some way of "summoning" a certain points worth of superhero... he can create (Summon) a hero to match the circumstance/bad guy.

I'll try to explain it better once I have him built. We're playing Episode 2 of City of Bliss tonight in about an hour and a half and I gotta get my story ready.

Cheers!

[Lindharin]

Cool concept, can't wait to see it!

And good luck in tonight's game!

[MrJupiter]

Very cool concept!

[-HF-Aardvark892]

Alex Kane (pronounced Kah-nay), a native Hawai'ian and a carpenter by trade, was an avid astrologist and occultism fan who often took long walks into the mountains of Hawai'i. One night as he pondered the brilliant stars above him, he noticed an area of sky where no stars shone... and that area seemed to be getting larger.

Before he knew it, that area (a globe of darkness) enveloped him, and he lost consciousness. When he awoke, he found he had the ability to turn his entire body into a black, star-filled dimensional gateway... a portal to another world.

The world he discovered seemed like something out of early '20's fiction... a pulp adventure universe where all of the cliche's of the era rang true. Imagine if the Golden Age of comics never happened, and the world stayed in the Mystery Men pulp era, only with many hundreds of heroes.

Weeks later, Alex was a witness to a burglary gone wrong, with hostages and a police stand-off. He decided to try to enlist one of the heroes from this Pulp Universe for help. He searched the planet with his mind (for he only experiences this new dimension with his mind) and found a hero whose talents exactly matched what the police really needed. A plea for help, and the hero plunged through Alex's body-gateway and saved the day. Alex discovered that the hours spent searching for a hero passed as only moments on Earth. Once the bad guys were captured, the hero departed back to his own world.

(This version of Portal is "by-the-book" legal according to the rules set in BASH! UE. See version 2 for a slightly "tweaked" version)

PORTAL
B 1 A 2 M 3

Total Attribute costs: 12

Powers:
Summoning 5; limit-activation (and can only summon Heroes from the Pulp Dimension) - cost 4
Dimensional Gateway 1; limit-his body becomes the gateway - cost 1
Starbody Multi-Power (cost 4)
- Invisibility 3; limit only in shadows and darkness
- Ghost Form 3; limit only in shadows and darkness
Healing 4; limit only works on summoned Pulp heroes; enhancement: usable on others) - cost 4

Total powers cost: 13

Summoned heroes (using Alex's summoning) have 7 attribute points and 5 power points.

Skills:
Stealth/Hiding
Craft/Carpentry
Occult/Astrology
Outdoor/Tracking
Social Science/Geography

No advantages or disadvantages (I just couldn't find/think of any I really felt fit the character!)

Attributes: 12, Powers: 13 total cost=25 points
EDIT: changed power cost to reflect "usable on others" for healing... basically the limit and the enhancement cancelled each other out.

[-HF-Aardvark892]

This version of PORTAL matches version 1 in virtually every way... except for the main Summoning power.

Per the BASH! UE rulebook, Summoning at level 5 lets you summon a creature with 7 attribute points (1 for 1, not 2 for one like in character generation) and 5 power points. If you convert those points into build points, it turns out to be 19 build points, one shy of the 20 you get for Mystery Men level characters.

For this version 2, the Summoning that Alex does brings forth a Mystery Men level character... the player can use 20 build points to create a character in the same manner as if he was creating a regular playable character. There's no set limit as to how many can be spent for attributes and how many for powers.

I've decided to make this change for a couple reasons. One, it's actually a very small change... only a build point's difference, essentially. Two, it fits the concept better. Three, the player can use any pre-generated Mystery Men level character in the UE book, these forums, or any published BASH adventure... it's a large resource.

The limitation as to what powers the summoned character has still stands, unless the GM decides otherwise... in my game, that limit stays.

[-HF-Aardvark892]

Summoned forth to do battle with demons by an ancient Mage in another time, Quicksand is an Earth Elemental who has earned his freedom, and has decided to stay on our plane and continue to do battle with evil. His form is that of a humanoid biped, but he is a shape of shifting mud, sand, and earth. He has existed for millenia, and now wanders our Earth, helping citizens and SuperHeroes alike.

B 2 A 2 M 1

Powers:
Immobilization 5; limit- targets must be standing on the ground
- Medium burst, Long Range, Difficulty 50 to break free
(this is a quicksand type attack, enveloping people into the ground)
Burrowing 3 (12 sq/panel or 24 sq/page with SuperSpeed)
SuperSpeed 3; limit- only with Burrowing
Armor 2
SuperSense 2-above ground "tremor sense". He can sense movement on the ground above him.

Advantage: Unliving (healing requires an Occult healing ritual)
Disadvantage: Freak (humanoid shape of mud, sand and gravel)

Weakness: Damaging Weakness against Water based attacks

Skills:
Craft/Stonework, Athletics/Swimming (Burrowing), Occultism/Rituals

Attributes: 10, Powers 18, Weakness -2 = 26

[-HF-Aardvark892]

Two new characters just introduced (and two versions of one of them): PORTAL and Quicksand!

I'd love your comments!

[Lindharin]

I really like portal - nice job! And I'd allow your version 2, I think using the mystery men characters as allowable templates makes a lot of sense. Point costs seem right. You might want to consider getting Versatile; his body is a gateway to a different spot (any spot?) on another world. That could let him do one power stunt for free, like sucking water through from an ocean to put out a fire, etc.

Quicksand looks good. Personally, I'm still leery of going above Immobilization 3 (30 difficulty) but I won't go into that here (there's a thread about it in the rules forum if you are interested).

[gryfn]

portal is indeed cool but remember summoned creatures just have 60 damage points

[BASHMAN]

Portal is cool. Don't forget to add {usable on others} to that Healing power, though.

[-HF-Aardvark892]

Portal is cool. Don't forget to add {usable on others} to that Healing power, though.

Dang. Forgot that. I designed it with usable on others, just forgot to write it down. Thanks!

[-HF-Aardvark892]

portal is indeed cool but remember summoned creatures just have 60 damage points

I also forgot to write "summoned heroes still only have 60 hits... it's another world they come from and the physics aren't identical to our own."

Thanks Gryfn!

[MrJupiter]

Regarding "Bottle-Rocket"

Body Slams are exactly what this character is designed to do.

He takes off, enabling his forcefield and superspeed, and aims for center-mass. Punches have nothing to do with this...it's all about the body slam!

Once he stops moving, he's gotta keep alert because all of his powers stop moving.

What's really funny is to watch him SHOOT up at an angle into the sky... he stops moving at the apex, and then starts falling. Once he gets his bearings, he aims for his next destination, and SHOOTS towards it.

ZIP.... aaaaaahhhhhhhh ZIP... aaaaaahhhhhh ZIP... aaaahhhhhh

Get it?

The Athletics-Acrobats skill will surely come in handy for orienting the trajectory of his flight path while falling! A failed roll would be hilarious to roleplay!

[-HF-Aardvark892]

Here's what I have in store for you next. My first World Class character, a villain with a twist. I haven't built the character yet, but I like the background so much I wanted to share it with you:

Augusta, the Metal Empress!

Agatha Milkwater, 87, had been the head librarian at the Clifford, Indiana public library ever since she was 21, hired on as temporary summer help. She led a simple widow’s life, with activities with her few surviving friends and housework filling her days. Honest as the day was long, always charitable with her time, and gracious to everyone who knew her, Agatha was destined to die in her sleep at a ripe old age; a peaceful exit to a peaceful life.
During spring cleaning of the library last year, Agatha and her friend Mildred were digging through the dozens of storage boxes that had been kept in the library’s basement for as long as either one of them could remember. Buried under a stack of cardboard boxes marked “archives”, they found an unusual, small wooden box with a strange inscription. The language used was not familiar, but the box itself looked valuable. Worried that an expensive artifact had been lost in her library, Agatha flipped the lid open to find what was inside.
She awoke some time later in the local hospital under heavy police guard and chained to her bed. The library, she learned, was now a pile of rubble. Her friend was dead. Fires raged throughout the town. Dozens of people had been hurt. And the police were holding her responsible.
They showed her footage from a security camera at the mall that showed a 15 foot tall woman in gleaming metal armor, swinging some type of jewel encrusted scepter and wearing a gold and silver crown as she demolished buildings, screamed at people around her, and shot some type of energy blast from her scepter that set everything it touched on fire. The chrome armor covered every inch of her, but it moved with her as though it was painted on; only the woman’s face was visible, and her expression was one of haughty outrage.
The police and the tiny National Guard detachment of the city were quickly overwhelmed; the huge armored woman destroyed tanks and police cruisers as if they were but toys. Only when a Super from Indianapolis arrived was the giant stopped. The security camera showed her shape being body-slammed by the flying hero. She was thrown fifty feet, landing on a mini-van in the parking lot, unconscious.
As the police moved in, the film showed the massive form fade from view, but a human sized body was clearly visible lying in the wreckage of the van. Agatha was stunned as she saw that the body that was being recovered in front of her eyes was her own, still dressed in her favorite blue gingham overalls. She had turned into the metal woman. She had destroyed all those buildings; set all those fires. She had killed her friend.
Agatha was quickly moved to a hardened facility, the kind used to house super-powered inmates. It was soon discovered that while Agatha has no memories of her activities after the change, it is anger and frustration that sets off the appearance of the armored woman. She calls herself Augusta, and she is convinced that she is the only true ruler of our world. The armor that she appears in isn’t worn as much as it actually is her body. Her giant ruby scepter can be used like a club or it can shoot a bolt of energy that can set things on fire. She’s incredibly strong and tough, and unfortunately completely insane.
Agatha lives now in a sort of protective custody. She has a guard of a dozen men with experience dealing with super powered threats. They treat her like she’s their grandmother, and act more as a body guard than prison guards. They have all been trained on how to help her overcome feelings of anger or frustration, and they act quickly to help calm her down. It’s an easy job; Agatha is by nature a very calm, happy old lady. Usually, it’s when she starts to think about what Augusta (Agatha always refers to her in the third person, unable to believe she’s the same person) did on that day, to her friend and to her town, that Augusta’s haughty nature starts to show through.
As long as her guardians can keep an eye out for her, Agatha is safe for society. If Augusta were ever to break free of their control, she might go on an even deadlier rampage.

EDIT: Here she is!



Augusta, the Metal Empress
Total cost: Attributes 14, Powers 23=37

B 3
A 2
M 2
Soak: x5+10
Defense: -2x5

Powers:
Armored Body (Armor) 2

Fleet of Foot (8 sq run/panel & Jump 16 sq.)

Deflect "Royal Wave" (elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wrist) 3

Immunity 1 (Fire)

Growing (Size, i.e. Permanent) 2
- 20' tall, weighs 2 tons, lift several tons (based on Brawn)
- 2x2 sq space, 2 sq reach
- +10 result bonus to all brawn based rolls

"Commanding Voice" multipower (total cost 9)
1) "Screaming Rage!" Push 3, Area (Line) 2 (8x2)
2) "Haughty Affront" Mind Control
3) "Royal Bidding" Suggestion linked to Weaken (Mind) 2

Sapphire Scepter (easy to lose gadget) Multi-Power (cost 5)
1) Special Attack (as laser blast) 3 (total x5 to hit, x2 damage) Range 2
2) Special Attack (as a club) 3 (total to hit x2, damage x6)


Skills:
Athletics/Running
Perform/Dance
Deception/Detect Deception
Military/Command

Advantages:
Alter Ego (Agatha)
Frightening Presence
Never Surrender

Disadvantages:
Freak
Outsider
Public I.D.

Mental Malfunction: "I RULE ALL I SURVEY!"

Comments Very Welcome!

[Lindharin]

Agatha Milkwater, 87, had been the head librarian at the Clifford, Indiana public library ever since she was 21...

That has got to be one of the best first sentences for a villain ever... Looking forward to seeing the build!