P is for Phurious Pharaoh

First Appearance
I was playing around with some new costume options in CoH and realized I could probably pull off an Egyptian themed character with a little effort. I still needed more though, more than just the costume. I needed an attitude - and then I gave him the expression you see above and a legend was born. In that game he was a Dual-Blades/Regeneration scrapper.

Phurious Pharaoh leaps into action!

Origin
Buck Brogan was a big-time professional wrestler. At the top of his game he took a vacation and went to Egypt. While touring the pyramids and museums he was injured in an accident but instead of dying he was seized by the spirit of an ancient king. Their spirits merged and his body was restored but he was irrevocably changed. From that day forward Buck Brogan and the spirit of the ancient Egyptian king Macho-Ra became the PHURIOUS PHARAOH!

Phurous Pharaoh protects the Baby New Year!

Personality
Pharaoh is mad quite a bit of the time. His awesome physique comes from a combination of his wrestling-trained body enhanced by the divine spirit,  but his rage comes mostly from the ancient king. Wrongfully murdered by evil spirits in his own time the curse and revenge he swore upon them as he expired sustained his spirit through the ages. Now, with the appearance of the proper vessel his time is at hand and vengeance will soon be his. He does have calmer, quieter moments now and then but most of the time ... well ... imagine a top pro wrestler powered by an ancient, angry, arrogant noble spirit bent on revenge and planning to deliver it in hand to hand combat. Subtlety is not an area of strength for him.

"Hey, why do you spell furious with a ph-"

"PHARAOH CARES NOT FOR YOUR PATHETIC RULES OF LANGUAGE! THE PHARAOH SEEKS REVENGE!"

 Phurious Pharaoh for ICONS

PDF Sheet is here

Attributes

Prowess: 6 (Remarkable) - he's a skilled, experienced professional fighter

Coordination: 3 (Typical) - Pharaoh cares not for ranged combat!

Strength: 6 (Remarkable) - peak human + magic = strong

Intellect: 3 (Typical) - Buck wasn't the smartest guy anyway and Pharaoh didn't really add much in this department

Awareness: 4 (Good) - Not the best but better than average

Willpower: 9 (Monstrous) - He has an agenda, some might say obsession, and nothing will steer him away from this

Stamina: 15

Determination: 1

Origin: Transformed (+2 to Willpower)

Specialties: Wrestling Expert, Athletics, Occult

Powers:
Strike 6 (slashing, magical device) "Blades of Fury"  - Pharaoh wields dual Khopeshes

Regeneration 6 "Eternal Rage" - The spirit of Macho-Ra heals his wounds 

Invulnerability 4 (magical device) - "Mystic Armor of Karnak"

Postcognition 5 "Echoes of the Past" - Pharaoh can pick up echoes of past events by touching objects

Qualities:

"Phurious!" - Boundless Rage is not always a good thing but in Pharaoh's case it powers him through dire circumstances - he is almost literally fueled by his rage.

"Former Egyptian Royalty" - This covers a certain bearing - some might call arrogance - and expectations, and might even serve as a form of "connections" under unusual circumstances.

"Former Pro Wrestler" - This covers a certain bearing - some might call arrogance - and his fame and his competitive, athletic nature. It too may serve as a form of "connections" as most of his associates are still alive and working. The circumstances of his transformation are fairly well known and he is still followed by many loyal fans. His is not a secret identity.

Challenges

Enemies: "The Five Evil Spirits" - These are the spirits that in ancient times combined to slay Macho-Ra's mortal form and bring an end to his dynasty, causing chaos and war in ancient Egypt for a generation. As he lay dying he cursed them and their priests and swore that he would one day have revenge upon them. Now that he is back, he just has to figure out how to find them in 21st Century America.

Enemy Note: The nature and identity of these spirits is left for the individual campaign as I'm only writing up the one character here, not him and all of his enemies. Perhaps it is actually the Six Evil Spirits and after noticing Pharaoh's return they have united to create a new champion to oppose him - Captain Infernal! 

Phurious Pharaoh waits for the Regen to kick in

Notes: Phurious Pharaoh comes out to 55 points which seems to be where a lot of my characters are falling - clearly there is some kind of sweet spot there for me. He's 10 over the book number for point-built heroes but let's chalk that up to experience. Physically he is quite capable and his Willpower means he will be pretty resistant to mental attacks.  Despite the Phury that colors this guy I wanted him to be more than a pure combat monster and I have tried to do that in three ways

1) Postcognition gives him an interesting way to contribute to investigations and explorations, whether it's solving a crime or exploring an alien spacecraft. Plus it's not a power you see a whole lot yet fits very well with his origin.

2) His Pro-Wrestler persona gives a player some fun social angles and a reason to ham it up in play. Think Hulk Hogan or the Late Great Macho Man for inspiration.

3) He doesn't know who his greatest enemies actually are! This gives him a huge mystery to solve that will almost certainly require help from other characters to both find and defeat them. You could go with my suggestion above or mix it up - maybe one or more of them were time-traveling supers from now! Plus it could be fun to have him declare any hostile super-being he encounters as one of the Five Evils and watch the question marks form over their heads as Phurious really gets worked up.

Tweaks and Alterations: 

• He does use two swords and I almost gave him Fast Attack 2 to represent it. For a more traditional take swap this out with his Postcognition. 
• In CoH he had Superleap as a movement power. Give him Leaping 5 and bump him up to 60 points if you think it's important.
• I wanted to emphasize the Rage a bit more so at one point I had him with Emotion Control 4 (Hate Only) but I'm not sure how much use a hero will get out of it in this game, mechanically. I envisioned it as a bonus to be bestowed on allies for a strength and mental resistance boost but there's not an easy way to do that in ICONS., so I swapped it out for Postcognition. Feel free to give it a try.
• I also really wanted to give him Immortal but it seemed like overkill with the Regen, which I chose for its more immediate, tangible game effects. It's not like his Determination can go any lower so why not throw it in too?

Let's try something with a little more detail ...

 Phurious Pharaoh for Mutants and Masterminds (3E)

PDF sheet is here

Phriend or Phoe?

Phurious Pharaoh - PL 12

Strength 8, Stamina 10, Agility 2, Dexterity 4, Fighting 10, Intellect 0, Awareness 8, Presence 8

Advantages

All-out Attack, Benefit, Ambidexterity, Fearless, Improved Critical: Enchanted Khopesh: Strength-based Damage 4, Power Attack, Seize Initiative, Takedown 2, Uncanny Dodge

Skills

Acrobatics 6 (+8), Athletics 7 (+15), Close Combat: Blades of Phury 2 (+12), Expertise: Egyptian History & Mythology 8 (+8), Intimidation 7 (+15), Stealth 8 (+10)

Powers

Blades of Phury (Easily Removable (indestructible))

Enchanted Khopesh: Strength-based Damage 4 (DC 27; Affects Insubstantial: half ranks, Penetrating 5)

Energizing Phury: Healing 5 (magical; Persistent)

Mystic Armor of Karnak: Protection 4 (magical, +4 Toughness)

Phurious Leap: Leaping 3 (magical, Leap 60 feet at 16 miles/hour)

Phurious Speed: Speed 4 (magical, Speed: 30 miles/hour, 500 feet/round)

Spirit of Eternal Phury: Regeneration 10 (magical, Every 1 round)

Words of Phury: Burst Area Enhanced Fighting 4 (magical, +4 FGT; Affects Others Only, Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere; Activation: move action, Sense-dependent: Hearing)

Offense

Initiative +2

Enchanted Khopesh: Strength-based Damage 4, +12 (DC 27)

Grab, +10 (DC Spec 18)

Throw, +4 (DC 23)

Unarmed, +10 (DC 23)

Defense

Dodge 10, Parry 10, Fortitude 12, Toughness 14, Will 12

Complications

Enemies: The Five Evil Spirits: Mysterious forces of Evil that wronged him so long ago.

Motivation: Revenge!: The Pharaoh seeks revenge on those who wronged him in his previous life.

Temper: Phurious!: The Phurious Pharaoh is driven by Rage! He uses this to his advantage in battle but out of combat it can sometimes be a problem.

Languages

Native Language

Power Points

Abilities 92 + Powers 46 + Advantages 9 + Skills 19 (38 ranks) + Defenses 14 = 180

Notes: here we get a slightly different version of the Phurious One: He loses Postcognition from the ICONS version but gains Leaping, minor Super Speed, greater Strength, the ability to make others fight harder, and the ability to heal! 

• The Fighting increase is a move action hearing-dependent burst radius effect that represents him talking his allies into sharing his rage before a fight begins. It's not selective, so be careful. I would consider making it so as a future upgrade, perhaps based on hard experience
• The Healing I envision as a sharing of his regeneration with a worthy ally. It would be cheaper to do it as an alternate effect of the regen but the way I have done it hear less him keep regenerating while he heals. To fit in some other changes it might be worth going with the AE.
• The blades are defined as magical unbreakable penetrating weapons that can affect insubstantial targets. he also has higher skill and improved critical hits with them. He's not bad with his fists, but he's really nasty with these things.
• His other Advantages are things that seem appropriate to me. Fearless, Ambidextrous, All-Out Attack, Power Attack all fit. Seize the Initiative lets him automatically go first by spending a Hero Point and that seemed especially appropriate for the Phurious one. 

This version is a little more combat-focused but he is also a better team player with his potential for a fighting bonus and healing. He is also very mobile, strong enough to throw cars at peoples, an expert on Egyptian History, and can sneak! I think he'd be fun to play and will see how he works the first chance I get.