Lovecraftian Superhero

[Ailura]

Hi guys!

some time ago I had an idea for a D&D sorcerer who is of dark elder god descent and thus that is his bloodline power. Yet you could never tell that was his lineage and source of power until you saw him in action because his personality was rather cheerful and naive. After thinking about him and playing a BASH! superheroes game I thought maybe he could make an interesting superhero who wields a very dark power given to him without his choice but uses it for good(but for how long?).

In a modern superhero setting, his background would be similar. About a thousand years ago his ancestor interbred with some Lovecraftian eldritch god in guise of a human and somehow produced a human offspring, that wasn't quite human of course. However the "eldritchness" started fading after a few generations until finally it only manifested in a few descendants every 100 years and most of them went insane missing. Our superhero, Phillip Humphrey is one of the few exceptions. His immediate family knows about a "family curse" but hasn't had any manifested members in a long time so most of it is forgotten to them, until Phil began displaying odd senses and odd development as a child. His parents have started researching "the curse" and only find the rumblings of mad men and women. As an adult, Phil recently joined a dark cult dedicated to a dark elder god; Phil had strong feelings he was connected to this god. He only lasted a few weeks because it was too creepy and evil for him; in addition when he revealed he might be descendant, the cult began revering him as a messiah which creeped him out more and he had to move far away from them.

As a budding superhero, Phil has discovered how to harness his dark abilities for good and develop them further. Despite this, he fears that his great ancestor was truly an evil fiend and one day he might fall into madness like the others. He sometimes tries to research his great ancestor on his own but the leads often grow thin; even the information and names from the cult don't seem to give good leads.

A mechanism I am trying to work out is changes that occur when manifested and not manifested. For example, freak is only active when his tentacles come out.

So far I have worked out the following:

Brawn: 3
Agility: 3
Mind: 2
(16 pts)

Super senses-can see ultraviolet light as another color. (2pts)

Danger sense(2pts)

Eldritch voice-Insanity(works like confusion but instead of agility penalty gives mind penalty): range 5 and target has -3 penalty on mind rolls. (3 pts)

Tentacle grapple- large, black tentacles sprout from his back. The number depends on how many are needed, which depends on the difficulty of the task to grapple. A maximum of 8 tentacles can be out at once. Each tentacle can grapple only a portion of a person's body. For example, one tentacle can grapple a person's waist, another has the grapple legs and another has to grapple the neck. Extending tentacles requires a panel and each tentacle out in use drains 1 pt of energy per panel in use; for example, keeping an enemy minion completely immobile for 3 panels will burn 9 pts of energy if three tentacles are used to keep said enemy minion immobile. One tentacle can be used keep a minion grappled. Tentacles can also be used for small move action tasks like grabbing objects. Wielding weapons with tentacles is -1 on agility rolls. A single tentacle can also be used to damage an enemy by choking or cutting off blood supply. Not sure about the mechanics of this part, not sure about the entire mechanics of tentacle stuff. Each tentacle has a range of 3 squares. Hopefully this is 5 pts.

Mind shield- add 4 to mind for mental defense. (2pts). So mental defense should be x6.

(14 pts)
(total: 30 pts)

(really need suggestions for advantages and disadvantages!)

Advantages:

Educated-Has a college degree
Virtuous
Quick Healer
Secret Identity

Disadvantages:

Suspicion- Other supers don't quite trust him due to the source of his powers.

Freak- when tentacles are out.

Burden- he fights evil due to the burden of his ancestry and in hopes he may not slip into evil or insanity like the others. Thus his powers are both a "gift and a curse" in one. As a result he is shy or even slightly embarrassed explaining his powers to others or showing them unless nessiscary.

Socially Awkward-has social anxiety

Skills:

Occultism(mysticism)
Escapology(breaking free of restraints)
Science(neurology)
Athletics(swinging)

So yeah, need lots of suggestions!

[urbwar]

You might want to pick up Awesome Powers #5, which covers mental powers. There's a version of confusion that affects mind instead of Agility, and there's another one that instills fear in a target, freezing them. Might be good alternatives to what you're trying to do with regular confusion

[BASHMAN]

Looks pretty interesting; but Urwar is correct; Awesome Powers #5 is all about the Psionic powers and Telekinetic powers.

[Ailura]

Alright I'll check that out.

Is there a template for shape shifting characters like The Hulk? I think that might be helpful. Also a build for tentacled characters like Doc Oc might serve as some reference for the tentacle grappling thing.

[urbwar]

Under the writeup of The Brick on page 110 of BASH UE it mentions giving the character Instant Change, with Involuntary Change as a disad to complicate things.

For the Hulk (or a take on the concept), I'd say they might have the Alter Ego Advantage, and Normal/Involuntary Change as Disadvantages. Fearless, Frightening Presence and/or Never Surrender would be some other good advantages, while On the Run and either Public ID or Secret would work well for Disadvantages.

[BASHMAN]

Generally if the person only has two modes and one of those is "normal" you just buy the Normal Disad and the Instant Change advantage to reflect this. Your "build" is just for the "Super" form of the character.

Other good ad/disad might be Alter Ego for a character like the Hulk (Banner and the Hulk are like two minds in one body wrestling for control of it).

[MrJupiter]

Really cool concept, Ailura. If you go with the Instant Change advantage as a way to transform into your tentacled-super form, you could re-skin Social Stigma as Disturbing Aura to reflect that this character just gives off weird, unsettling vibes while his Cthulhic heritage is manifested (he kinda creeps people out a little bit).

For his Tentacle power, I'd simply use Extra Limbs (possibly with Limit: not capable of fine manipulation) with the variable enhancement. The Extra Limbs power should give you a +1 Dice Bonus, per level of Limbs used, when trying to Wrestle. You could also LINK these Limbs with Super Speed 3 (Limit: Only when using tentacles to attack) to make them extra useful.

You could put your mind-bending Confusion ability into a multi-power combo with with the Daze (Fear) power described in Awesome Powers #5 as a way of varying the effects of his Eldritch Voice.

[Supertodd]

Great character concept! For a Disadvantage, you could re-skin "Rogues Gallery" as "Hunted: Evil Cult", since they are trying to track down their errant messiah.