Motivational Monday

X is for the X-Wife!

Oh, you're going to think this one is mine, but today's hero is a guest star courtesy of Lady Blacksteel! This is a character thought-up, designed, and played by her in City of Heroes. I did the ICONS conversion as she has not tried to play her there yet, but she approved it before publication.

Origin
Psycho X-Wife……In today’s world chances are you know one, you have one, or you are one.  She’s attractive and usually very well dressed.  She will either flash you a smile capable of charming a snake or she will glare at you, with her eyes glowing like lasers, as if she is attempting to carve your heart out.  She might have at one time been the woman of your dreams, the one you would do anything for but something changed as quickly as a light being switched on and off and she is now your worst nightmare come to life.  The once smiling bride that couldn't wait to spend the rest of her life with you now only lives to make your life as miserable as she possibly can.   

Foolish, foolish gangers

Personality
Psycho X-Wife has several personalities.  She can be a calm, cool, well-liked business woman.  Steadily moving up the corporate ladder all while calmly stepping over the cold, lifeless bodies of her co-workers that she has shoved off that same ladder along the way.  She can sometimes be sweeter than honey to everyone, including you.  This typically happens when she wants something from you and of course you fall for it every single time, because her mind control powers are just that strong.  She does a nice job of keeping the crazy in her tucked away and out of sight most of the time.  This is how she catches people of guard.  They’ve all heard the outlandish stories about how her head spins around like the woman in the Exorcist movie but they can’t believe that this attractive, smiling, sweetheart of a woman could possibly be capable of inflicting the kind of chaos, pain, and heartache that has been described.  Then one day, they find themselves on the wrong side of her split personality and learn the hard way that Psycho X-Wife is not someone to be trifled with.

Look how cute she is ...

Psycho X-Wife (Primary Form) for ICONS

PDF link is here

Attributes

Prowess: 3 (Typical) - Just an average girl

Coordination: 4 (Good) - She does alright here

Strength: 3 (Typical) - In good shape

Intellect: 5 (Excellent) - Sharp, very sharp

Awareness: 6 (Remarkable) - She doesn't miss as much as you wish she would

Willpower: 10 (Unearthly) - You're not going to win, just accept it

Stamina: 13

Determination: 1

Origin: Birthright

Specialties: Law Expert, Deception Expert

Powers:
Alter-Ego - She changes when she gets mad 

Supersenses 2 - Enhanced Hearing, Extended Hearing

Telepathy 5 - You always suspected she could do this - now you know!

Mind Control 7 - You already knew she could do this and yes it is a superpower

Teamed up with Draco Rex - he's probably safe ...

Qualities

Catchphrase: "You Jerk!"  - this also transforms her into her Fighting Mad form

Epithet: "The Psycho (X-Wife)" - She earned this one

Connections: Hometown Legal Community - lawyers, judges, bailiffs, bondsmen, process servers - she is friends with most, enemies with a few, and knows a lot of people in this area.

Fiery Heroes vs. Snow monster!

Challenges
"Irresistible" - it's a real burden to be this attractive and successful! So many people just don't understand!

Enemy: "That Guy" - Have fun with this. Make it a different guy every time. Ex's, lawyers, reporters, etc.

Psycho X-Wife (Fighting Mad Form) for ICONS

PDF link is here

Attributes

Prowess: 5 (Excellent) - Her rage gives her power!

Coordination: 5 (Excellent) - She moves faster!

Strength: 5 (Excellent) - Rage makes her stronger!

Intellect: 4 (Good) - Less time thinking more time fighting!

Awareness: 6 (Remarkable) - She doesn't miss as much as you wish she would

Willpower: 10 (Unearthly) - You're not going to win, just accept it

Stamina: 15

Determination: 3

Origin: Birthright

Specialties: Deception Expert, Acrobatics, Martial Arts Expert

Powers:
Force Field 5 "Shield of Burning Anger" - A visible, purple flame surrounds her form

Aura 5 "Raging Aura - Do Not Touch Me! - That visible purple flame burns ...

Unearthly Uberman AND Psycho X-Wife? Oh No!

Qualities

Catchphrase: "No One Does That To Me And Gets Away With It!" - for her, every fight is personal

Epithet: "The Psycho (X-Wife)" - She earned this one

Look Out Villains!

Challenges

"Berserker" - She's eager to start fights and loath to finish them

"Impulsive" - In this form, besides fighting, her standard procedure is to act first and think later. Delayed gratification is a foreign concept. This is how some of those "Enemies" are generated.

Enemy: "That Guy" - Have fun with this. Make it a different guy every time. Ex's, lawyers, reporters, etc.

That Trenchcoated B**** took down Blue Aluminum Man! Now she's REALLY Mad!

Notes: This is my first "Alter Ego" character but it seemed like the most appropriate way to handle her. She has a normal-looking (though super-powered) form, then she flips out, little horns sprout from her head, and purple flames start burning around her. She's a perfect manipulative mentalist in her primary, then for the secondary she turns into a pretty vicious melee combatant and with 15 Stamina and 3 points of Determination she will be all over the enemy for as long as it takes! At 50 points she's not ridiculously costed either.

For some added fun, giver her a base and some vehicles themed for other heroes and villains - maybe she lives in Scorpion Manor, has the Jaguarmobile in her garage, and the Silver Shark's submarine out at the marina. You know, people change ...

She's the hero the city ... well, frankly no one really deserves that ...

W is for Wizard of Wor

First Appearance
CoH periodically released new costume pieces and parts and full sets. One of them was magic-themed and of course this meant I needed a new character to try them out. Wiz went through several incarnations but one that stuck around was a Sonic/Dark Defender, mainly because it looked particularly "wizardy". I'm shallow like that sometimes.

Yes, the old videdogame was in my head for some reason when I was working on him. Maybe it was the colors, I don't know.

Origin
The Wizard of Wor was born on earth but was noticed by certain organizations as having high magical potential. Unfortunately for him he was not invited to attend a magical English secondary school. Instead he was kidnapped and raised on a distant world, a harsh, unforgiving place with a harsh unforgiving Master. As he passed various test over the years he was taught more powerful magic. Only the best could serve the Master of the place as his champion and lieutenant, and this decade of training would winnow a group of candidates down until only the strongest survived. He did, but instead of ascending to be the master's right hand he set off planted devices, self-destructs, and then cast a long-prepared spell to take him home. At the end though the Master caught him as the spell was completed and corrupted the final step. Instead of returning to Earth the turncoat was sent tumbling into another dimension.

It would be a long road home. The Wizard spent a year traveling various dimensions as he divined the correct path home, moving ever closer to his goal. Eventually he reached it, but he knew that agents of the master could still be watching for him. He created an identity-concealing costume, contacted some potential friends, and decided to begin a new life as a hero. This would give him a cover as "just another costumed do-gooder", allow him to watch for signs of the cult, make some new allies, and atone for the terrible things he had done during his training.

Personality
The Wizard of Wor stays hidden behind his mask and robes. His voice is modulated through his mask, concealing that as well. He is physically fit, athletic and energetic, and an experienced, dangerous physical combatant. He comes across as knowing a lot but saying little more than is needed to resolve the current situation. He doesn't have a lot to say unless educating an ally on a magical threat of some kind. He tends towards the grim, as he knows what is out there and how dangerous it can be, but he has occasional lighter moments where he can come across as more likable - there may still be a real person inside there. The Wizard has never been heard to laugh. He dreams of a day when the greatest magical threats to the world are destroyed and the Master is slain once and for all, when he can finally take off his mask.

 Wizard of Wor for ICONS

PDF is here

Attributes

Prowess: 5 (Excellent) - Much of his early life was spent in combat

Coordination: 5 (Excellent) - A matter of survival

Strength: 4 (Good) - In good shape

Intellect: 5 (Excellent) - Bright and educated

Awareness:5 (Excellent) - Senses honed by experience

Willpower: 8 (Amazing) - This reflects his self control and mental discipline

Stamina: 12

Determination: 2

Origin: Transformed

Specialties: Occult Master, Martial Arts Expert

Powers:
Force Field 5  - Mystic Shield - Learned early and something he does without even thinking about it now 

Wizardry 8 - Magic, Willpower-based - Known Powers:

• Winds of Wor (Flight) 
• Iron Bands of Bollarro (Binding)

Qualities

Epithet: "The Militant Master of Magic" - he's known for not being a very traditional wizard, jumping into hand to hand situations like a pro.

Motivation: Protect the city and the world from mystic threats, waging a constant underground war against these things.

Challenge

Enemies: The Circle of Thorns - A powerful magical group that poses a huge threat to life on earth if left unchecked, he has already had several skirmishes with them and has marked them as his next target

Bloodthirsty: The Wizard is not like many traditional superheroes. He knows what these magical cults are capable of and sees this as a war, not a sport - he's not playing tag here. People are going to die and most of them are going to deserve it. If he's pointing a loaded finger at the leader of an evil cult who is holding a hostage, well, you might not want to be that hostage - it's a close thing for him.

Masked: He keeps his face and voice hidden for his own protection. Revealing them would potentially give his greatest enemy his location and make him more vulnerable to certain magical attacks. As no one has seen his face, no one can be 100% sure he is a male, or even human anymore.

Here Wor consults with an angel and the king of pop!

Notes

What if Dr. Strange or Dr. Fate had the attitude of the Punisher? I wanted to ponder this and WW is the result. At 50 points he is remarkably cheap for what he can do. He has a fairly ferocious melee capability plus his Wizardry which makes him all kinds of flexible. 

I kept his Force Field separate from his Wizardry because I wanted it to be a separate, instinctive thing. Even if his main magic is drained he could still put up his field. Looking at it from an efficiency point of view it could probably just be rolled into his Wizardry list replacing Flight which would give him another point of Determination but I'm leaving it the way I wrote it up here for now.

I also gave him Binding instead of Blast for his main ranged attack, mainly because it's more interesting. He can stunt into a blast if he just wants to blow things away, but the binding option lets him interrogate prisoners during or after a confrontation. 

He will be burning Determination to do interesting things with his powers so it was important to me that he start with at least 2 points. Hopefully I have given him enough Challenges to gain some more and enough Qualities to spend them in fun ways. With his power level he can maintain up to 8 effects at a time so he has room to use those points.

Going back to the question above ...

Is this the end?

Wizard of Wor for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

PDF Link is here

Notes

Most of Wor in MHR is Dr. Strange with some Punisher added in as well. His Milestones are a mix of the two, insuring the proper attitude. His Specialties are as well. His Powers are in a single set (as opposed to Strange's 3!) with lots of options for adding in multiple dice, stepping them up, or stepping them down, so he should still be fairly versatile. he is not intended to be as powerful as Strange, but is instead a combat-focused battle wizard. One set may be restrictive but I didn't want to load him down with a bunch of "magic items" to create another power set. I see him as reliant on his own abilities, using items temporarily at most, which would be covered by the asset creation rules.