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. 

V is for Captain Vesuvius!

First Appearance
Continuing my "Shield Guys" mania of the time I decided I wanted a magical fire-themed shield tanker and a few hours work in the character creator resulted in this guy.

Origin
While vacationing in Italy gymnastics trainer Marcus Mollari wandered into a cave near Pompeii. Inside he found an ancient shrine to a long forgotten god of fire and earth. In a place of honor rested an ornate helm. Drawn irresistibly closer, he picked it up and placed it on his head. Instantly he was possessed by an ancient Roman spirit out for vengeance, the spirit of a Roman special agent, an investigator of secret cults and societies. Having followed clues to Pompeii, he had been close to a final triumph over his greatest enemies when the ill-timed volcanic disaster ended his work prematurely. The cult endures even in the present day, but so does he - and now they're going to pay!

On the Move!

Personality
Marcus soon returned home, externally unchanged. However, when he dons the Helm of Vesuvius he gains new powers, seems to become taller, and his voice changes. Occasionally he speaks in Latin without even realizing it. During these times he's sharing his body with an ancient Roman crimefighter and is a very different person from his normal self.

 Captain Vesuvius for ICONS

PDF link is here

Attributes

Prowess: 4 (Good) - Not an expert but learning

Coordination: 5 (Excellent) - Gymnastics!

Strength: 4 (Good) - Athletic but not a bodybuilder

Intellect: 4 (Good) - Not bad

Awareness: 4 (Good) - Another area developing rapidly

Willpower: 6 (Remarkable) - Helm + Spirit = Better

Stamina: 10

Determination: 2

Origin: Gimmick - Helm of Vesuvius

Specialties: Acrobatics, Computers, Occult

Powers:
Aura 5 (Device) - Flames of Vesuvius! 

Resist Magic 5 (Device) - Helm of Vesuvius

Elemental Control 7 Lava (Device) - Helm of Vesuvius - known powers:

• Offense: Fiery Sword of Vengeance (Strike)
• Defense: Fiery Shield of Justice (Force Field)
• Create: Fiery Doom of Judgement (Bonus Power)

Step away!

Qualities

Secret Identity as Marcus Mollari, Gymnastics Trainer

"Spirit of Roman Vengeance" - When using the helm Marcus is sharing/hearing/possessed by a Roman spirit that is somewhere between Soloman Kane and Batman. This gives him all kinds of gritty determination but can be tricky when it's time to not be an obsessed vigilante.

Challenges

Weakness: Time and Dimensional powers - the Helm is a magical conduit to the ancient earth spirit inside Vesuvius. Powers that interfere with time and open dimensional rifts can interfere with this connection, causing a loss of power. The ancient spirit does not go away - it lives in the helm - but the fiery lava power weakens and fades if the connection is not available.

Enemy: Cult of the Twin Serpents - this is a powerful magical secret society that dates back to at least Roman times. The Spirit is now back in action and ready to root them out once and for all.

You were warned!

At 47 points Captain V is just over the book's number for point buy characters and yet he's pretty capable. If he needs to be 45 exactly I would drop 2 points of magic resistance. He has some use out of combat and is pretty nasty in combat with his sword and shield and flaming aura. Two starting Determination should let him pull of an elemental stunt pretty easily. Technically his EC is "fire" but I think it fits better as "lava" - just treat it like fire. One downside is that all of his powers come from the Helm, so if it is taken away he doesn't have much left. Upgrades could include a movement power of some kind - maybe he can "surf" lava? Also a bonus power to shape some Fiery Barriers could be a lot of fun in a fight.

 Captain Vesuvius for Mutants and Masterminds (3E)

PDF is here

Captain Vesuvius - PL 10

Strength 1, Stamina 1, Agility 5, Dexterity 3, Fighting 5, Intellect 0, Awareness 2, Presence 2

Advantages

Accurate Attack, All-out Attack, Languages 1, Power Attack, Takedown

Skills

Acrobatics 7 (+12), Close Combat: Fiery Sword 5 (+10), Insight 4 (+6), Investigation 5 (+5), Perception 3

(+5), Persuasion 3 (+5), Ranged Combat: Energy Control 5 (+8)

Powers

Fiery Shield of Justice: Force Field 8 (+8 Toughness; Impervious)

Fire Immunity: Immunity 5 (Damage Effect: Fire)

Flames of Vesuvius: Energy Aura 4 (DC 19)

Helm of Vesuvius: Fire Control: Energy Control 12 (DC 27)

Blast Wave: Burst Area Blast 6 (Alternate; DC 21; Burst Area 3: 120 feet radius sphere; Reduced

Range: close)

Create Fire: Create 8 (Alternate; Volume: 250 cft., DC 18; Movable)

Fiery Sword of Vengeance: Damage 10 (Alternate; DC 25)

Quick Change: Feature 1 (Notes: Transform into costume as a free action)

Offense

Initiative +5

Blast Wave: Burst Area Blast 6 (DC 21)

FIery Sword of Vengeance: Damage 10, +10 (DC 25)

Flames of Vesuvius: Energy Aura 4, +5 (DC 19)

Grab, +5 (DC Spec 11)

Helm of Vesuvius: Fire Control: Energy Control 12, +8 (DC 27)

Throw, +3 (DC 16)

Unarmed, +5 (DC 16)

Defense

Dodge 11, Parry 10, Fortitude 6, Toughness 9, Will 12

Complications

Enemy - Cult of the Twin Serpents: this is a powerful magical secret society that dates back to at least Roman times. The Spirit is now back in action and ready to root them out once and for all.

Motivation: Justice: When using the helm Marcus is sharing/hearing/possessed by a Roman spirit that is somewhere between Soloman Kane and Batman. This gives him all kinds of gritty determination but can be tricky when it's time to not be an obsessed vigilante.

Power Loss - Time and Dimensional Effects: the Helm is a magical conduit to the ancient earth spirit inside Vesuvius. Powers that interfere with time and open dimensional rifts can interfere with this connection, causing a loss of power. The ancient spirit does not go away - it lives in the helm - but the fiery lava power weakens and fades if the connection is not available.

Languages

Latin, Native Language

Power Points

Abilities 38 + Powers 65 + Advantages 5 + Skills 16 (32 ranks) + Defenses 26 = 150 

Checking for Clues

Notes: Keeping him at PL10 does restrict what he can do but he is still pretty close to the ICONS version. He does gan an area blast as an alternate power, always a handy trick to have. He also trades magic resistance for immunity to fire to keep with the fire theme.

Offensively he has the Sword at 10/10, a ranged attack at 8/12, the area blast at +6, and the aura at +4 so he has a variety of ways to hurt badguys and the aura will help keep the minions off at least.

Defensively he's about par for PL10 but his Parry is down 1 pt and his Fort is low - his Will is quite strong though!

For upgrades he could still use a movement power and maybe Create Objects as an lat power for his Energy Control. A penetrating attack or one with an increased Critical range would be nice for tough targets.

Overreaction Wednesday

It's been a while since I've talked newsy stuff - been building characters you know - and it's clearly time:


UPDATE evening of 4/24: Well I picked the right day to talk news. The biggest news of the day is the end of the Marvel Heroic RPG after a little more than a year. That might be a record.  Announcement is down the page here. MWP Forum talk is here. There's just nothing good about this and having just recently started up a new campaign for the boys I was hoping for a lot more material over the next few years. Age of Apocalypse would have been a huge boost to any potential X-Men games. Looks like it stops with the Civil War books and Annihilation. Damn.

So by the end of this year both the DC and Marvel RPG licenses will be inactive. That's a little surprising with all of the movies and cartoons and everything else going on right now. If this golden age of superhero stuff can't support these kinds of things when will it be viable?

D&D:
D&D Next takes a misstep - take a look at this article and then look at the comments below it. Skills optional? Feats default to a +1 Ability Score with other options ... optional? Yes, it looks like quite a mess. This is the kind of stuff in a really good April Fool's joke, but it appears to be true.

In better news, Stonehell : The Rest of the Dungeon is on the way to being completed. Facebook page is here for more info.

Also, Pathfinder keeps cranking out more books! I kinda wish I had gotten more into it, but then looking at the monthly pace of publication I'm kinda glad I didn't.

M&M:
The DC Adventures Universe book is finally headed our way - announcement and a preview here. I expect that with the wrapup of the DC thing we will see more straight-up M&M books in the next year or two, likely with a Freedom City 3E book at the heart of it - that's  not announced or anything, just my speculation. With Cosmic Power, and Emerald City already set for later this year and the bi-weekly  Gadget Guides going strong M&M is looking good.

ICONS:
Great Power is "very nearly done". I'm looking forward to it. More ICONS is a good thing.

Stark City has begun releasing chapters to backers and it's solid. More on it to come.

The Home Campaigns

• The grown-up 4E D&D campaign continues. One of these days the summaries will catch up to the actual sessions and balance will be restored to the universe.
• Stonehell has stalled out a bit due to ridiculous kid schedules but is still very much on the current games list
• The boys have also been distracted by our new Marvel Heroic campaign - yeah I said "campaign". More about that later.
• We've also dusted off the M&M campaign - the Apprentice side this time - and had a run at that again. 

The downside here is that the 4E ToEE game has gone quiet again as they are more interested in Stonehell and one of the superhero games most of the time.

The other big loser is ICONS - we just haven't played it much recently. Not through lack of interest but through lack of time and the right combination of Apprentices. It has been mentioned several times lately so I don't think we will get past the next couple of weeks without a session but it is an unusual gap for us. I'm thinking about turning Stark City over to Apprentice Blaster to see what he can do with running a game but I'm not sure he wants to - he's pretty happy as a player.