Monday, April 8, 2013

G is for Gator - Sewer Gator!



First Appearance
In City of Heroes there were a lot of options in both powers and costumes. Sometime things are driven by one or the other and sometimes inspiration strikes and a concept just springs into your head one morning. That was the case with Sewer Gator - my first manhole cover wielding humanoid albino alligator! In that game he was a Shield/Super-Strength Tanker, and that's the theme we're going to take here.

Origin
Much like certain ninja turtles, he came to awareness in a sewer in a glowing pool of chemical goo. He was changed, and as he grew to full size he became smarter as well. Life is tough in the sewer of a city with active superhumans and it was learn or die. He survived and thrived and eventually started making runs to the surface world, where his hero career began. One night he saved a family from a bunch of local gang thugs and despite his appearance they thanked him for it! He liked the feeling and began "patrolling" the neighborhood and soon had a handle on local threats. Eventually he became known to the local supers as well and started working with them too.

Personality
Gator is somewhat awkward socially, having grown up in a sewer. He learns fast though and is trying to fit in.   He doesn't like to start fights, but he doesn't back down. He's fairly intimidating so a the less combat-oriented heroes like having him around when patrolling. He likes to use his intimidation to avoid combat as much as possible, so he's not known as a hot-head and is pretty well thought of amongst the local second-stringers.


PDF Sheet Here

Sewer Gator for ICONS:

Attributes
Prowess: 5 (Excellent) - Ferocity trumps training
Coordination: 4 (Good) - Not terrible but not his strength
Strength: 8 (Amazing) - Mutant Gator Power!
Intellect: 3 (Typical) - A genius among gators
Awareness: 5 (Excellent) - He's canny
Willpower: 5 (Excellent) - A hard-headed gator

Stamina: 13
Determination: 2

Origin: Birthright

Specialties: Underwater Combat Expert, Weapon: Manhole Cover

Powers:
Aquatic - 5 (Excellent) - Gator Nature
Invulnerability - 5 (Excellent) - Scaly Hide
Force Field - 3 (Typical) - Manhole Cover used as a shield
Blast - 5 - (Excellent) - Manhole Cover as flung weapon


Qualities: 
"Mutant Animal" - He is not a human. This has advantages and disadvantages. It's mainly a physical and social factor.

"King of the Sewers" - He lives in the sewers. This also has advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes he can hide, sometimes he can find information, sometimes it just means he smells bad.

Challenges:
"Looks like a Big Alligator" - Most people do not consider this friendly at first glance.

"Hunted by Local Gangs" - He has disrupted the local criminal underground and they know that a big white gator is involved.


Notes: I gave him Invulnerability + Force Field to separate his innate toughness from the manhole cover. It's somewhat wasteful structurally but it works the way I want it to. Offensively he's pretty simple - he can punch people or throw the shield ... or a car! But his weapon specialty helps him actually hit with the shield. I think his Challenges are fairly obvious given the background, and his Qualities should be fun in play.

Modifications could include some form of Regeneration (reptilian physiology), Extra Limb (his tail), or Aura (he does live in the sewer).


Home Sweet Home

and just because I can ...


Sewer Gator for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying:


PDF is here

He has two powersets - "Albino Mutant Alligator" and "Manhole Cover Shield". You can guess where the shield came from but the other set is from several different places. I opted not to go with the "mutant" limit because he's not a mutant in the Marvel sense - he's not human to begin with.

His Milestones are from Colossus and Cyclops in the Basic Game. I wanted to emphasize his "tanker" origin so that where Colossus comes in. I also wanted to emphasize that he's learning to work with others and bridge the two worlds of the surface and the sewers, so that's where Cyclops comes in. They may be a little too similar - I can see one good fight generating a whole lot of XP - but I would want to try it out and see how it goes because thematically it's right where I want it to be.   



2 comments:

Adam Dickstein said...

I...you win the internet.

There ain't no way, no how I'm gonna top a mutant, albino alligator superhero carrying a manhole cover.

I wouldn't even try.

Blacksteel said...

Thanks! I'll take that as the highest compliment. He always seemed to make people smile at least, so I'm happy to get to translate him into something where he can live on.