A stab at a Kapes™ character: Foxfire
May. 1st, 2021 01:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicollA tweaked version of a character I ran in Icons, redesigned for Champions 4th edition because I just rediscovered how much I like that version of Champions. I used to try to design swiss army knife characters with loads of limitations. Now I just design characters who can do a few things well.
Sumner Daniels: Foxfire
Value Stat Cost
30 Str 20
23 Dex 39
23 Con 26
14 Body 8
13 Int 3
11 Ego 2
13/23* Pre 10
12 Com 1
20/5r PD 14
20/5r ED 16
5 SPD 17
10 Rec 0
46 End 0
41 Stun 0
Total 156
OCV 8
DVC 8
EVC 8
Powers
7 ½ End on Str (1 END)
5 5pd/5e damage resistance
3 Instant Change (dependent on force field)
18 38 pt Elemental Control
12 15pd/15ed Forcefield, ½ END (one phase activation) (1 END)
25 Flight 18” flight, x16 NCBT (288”), ½ END, (dependent on force field) (1 END)
9 + 30 STR, ½ End (dependent on force field, no figured stats) (1 END)
79 Total
Skills
5 +1 w/ HTH
3 Breakfall, 14-
2 KS: Criminal Law 11-
2 CK: City of Operation 11-
3 Bureaucratics 12-
15 Total
Disadvantages
15 Secret ID
5 Distinctive Features (PI)
5 Distinctive Features (Invulnerable)
10 Monitored by Local Sanctioned Team, 11-
10 Hunted 11-, Doctor** Kersh
10 Hunted 11-, the Miller Twins
10 Rivalry, Lady Blue
5 DNPC Tara Lemick, 11-
20 Code vs Killing
15 Protect the Innocent
10 Reputation: D-list chump
15 Susceptible vs Power Dampening, 3d6/minute
5 1.5x from Affects Desolid Attacks
5 1d6 Unluck: Fate’s Chew Toy
15 A horrible, horrible surprise
** Doctorate pending acceptance of his thesis by his advisory board at the University of Luxembourg.
This version of Sumner is a law student whose degree is on hold due to poor. Six months ago, Sumner was working as a security guard in a condo complex one of whose AirB&B hosts had unwittingly rented to Doctor** Kersh, Luxembourg’s third greatest supervillain specializing in metahuman abilities. Mistakes were made, there was a Mass Origin Event and everyone within a certain radius of Kersh's device got empowered. Since the effect reached through walls, and since it took some time for abilities to manifest, those affected are not necessarily aware who else was empowered.
Sumner benefited in two ways. Firstly, he had a meet-cute with Tara Lemick, who he is currently dating. Secondly, he got physically enhanced, on top of which he got secondary force field-based powers that grant him a fairly impervious defences, a lot of flight, and boosts his strength to absurd levels. Knowing he can lift a tank and shrug off automatic weapons fire does a lot for his self-confidence, thus the presence boost when the force field is up and running. Somewhat annoyingly, the field is not quite bright enough to read by because I didn't have the seven points for change environment. Or rather I did but then I remembered I hate characters with variable speed values so I used those points differently.
One drawback to his new generic suite of abilities is that Sumner is affected by phenomena that don't usually affect people: effects that would affect desolid targets have more effect on him than normal. Another is that he needs the aura to live. This not normally a problem since even when the force field is shut down, the aura is still present in a quiescent state. Phenomena that decouple him from the aura cause him physical pain and could potentially kill him.
Out of an abundance of caution based in that partial law degree, Sumner decided to adopt a cape name rather than going public. Because the field has lambent glow similar to St. Elmo's fire, he picked the cape name "Foxfire". Do some people think he is either Firefox or Fox Bat? Yes, yes they do. Once the force field is fired up, the glow and change in his demeanour makes him hard to recognize (thus the instant change) but Sumner prefers to wear a mask as well just in case.
Tara was also empowered. Out of an abundance of caution, she also adopted a cape name: Lady Blue. She's a Robin Hood style social activist. Both Sumner and Tara believe in security by obscurity, thus she does not know Sumner is Foxfire and he has no idea Tara is Lady Blue. Many of their dates have ended awkwardly and for reasons that are unclear to both of them, Foxfire and Lady Blue keep running into each other unexpectedly.
Even in non-powered mode, Sumner retains enough abilities that an observant person could deduce he's enhanced to some degree. In particular, most people don't have even laughable small levels of resistant defences. Luckily for Sumner, Tara doesn't notice details like how Sumner never gets paper cuts. It's almost as though she and Sumner both have points induced cognitive blinders.
Two of Kersh's mooks acquired low grade brick powers, on par with Classic Enemies' Bulldozer. There's one important difference: they also have some abilities dependent on occasional exposure to Foxfire's force field. Although not terribly bright, they've worked out how their abilities work. When the latest charge runs down, they arrange to encounter Foxfire for however long it takes to get another boost. Sumner hasn't worked out why he keeps running into the Millers.
Baffled as to why he alone didn't get superhuman abilities, Kersh has spent a lot of time tracking down everyone who might have been affected. He is in the habit of arranging exciting events to better understand the nature of his subjects abilities. As it happens, Kersh is wrong to think he didn't get abilities. It's just that his self-examination didn't extend to passive powers, like power defences, mind shields, and knacks for fortuitously slipping though police cordons.
As to why Foxfire not on the local sanctioned mask team, there is an official reason and a real one.
When Sumner applied three months ago, he had not got the hang of turning the force field on quickly. Right now, it takes a couple of second but back then it was more like a minute. Without the aura-based powers, Foxfire is just a guy who can lift a car with some effort, someone can be taken down with small arms fire. The capes felt the combination of being unreliably invulnerable is an excellent recipe for sudden death. Foxfire was encouraged to seek opportunities elsewhere.
The real issue is the partial law degree combined with his psych lims, a consequence of which means Foxfire is unduly cautious about collateral damage, which means he's a brick who consistently pulls his punches lest he decapitate someone. You'd think that would be considered a good thing but taking the time to work out who is and is not a squishie is considered unprofessional dithering. As well, sanctioned capes, in particular the mentalists, find they have more leeway to act when nobody on the team is knowledgeable about the specifics of civil liberties.
Of course, Sumner applied in costume. Of course the capes worked out who he was almost immediately because they do superhero stuff for a living. Thus, the watched. Just because they don't want him in the group does not mean they don't want to keep tabs on him. After all, he could go super-villain.
Foxfire's reputation is one part not making the grade to join the capes, thus being consigned to the ranks of Tunemaster, Scamp: Sidekick for Hire, and Argus the Living Man (1987 - 2019), one part having tried to take Grond or his non-trademarked equivalent by ramming Grond, only be knocked cold on impact, and two parts the local capes make a point of undermining the reputation of unaffiliated supers.
Sumner Daniels: Foxfire
Value Stat Cost
30 Str 20
23 Dex 39
23 Con 26
14 Body 8
13 Int 3
11 Ego 2
13/23* Pre 10
12 Com 1
20/5r PD 14
20/5r ED 16
5 SPD 17
10 Rec 0
46 End 0
41 Stun 0
Total 156
OCV 8
DVC 8
EVC 8
Powers
7 ½ End on Str (1 END)
5 5pd/5e damage resistance
3 Instant Change (dependent on force field)
18 38 pt Elemental Control
12 15pd/15ed Forcefield, ½ END (one phase activation) (1 END)
25 Flight 18” flight, x16 NCBT (288”), ½ END, (dependent on force field) (1 END)
9 + 30 STR, ½ End (dependent on force field, no figured stats) (1 END)
79 Total
Skills
5 +1 w/ HTH
3 Breakfall, 14-
2 KS: Criminal Law 11-
2 CK: City of Operation 11-
3 Bureaucratics 12-
15 Total
Disadvantages
15 Secret ID
5 Distinctive Features (PI)
5 Distinctive Features (Invulnerable)
10 Monitored by Local Sanctioned Team, 11-
10 Hunted 11-, Doctor** Kersh
10 Hunted 11-, the Miller Twins
10 Rivalry, Lady Blue
5 DNPC Tara Lemick, 11-
20 Code vs Killing
15 Protect the Innocent
10 Reputation: D-list chump
15 Susceptible vs Power Dampening, 3d6/minute
5 1.5x from Affects Desolid Attacks
5 1d6 Unluck: Fate’s Chew Toy
15 A horrible, horrible surprise
** Doctorate pending acceptance of his thesis by his advisory board at the University of Luxembourg.
This version of Sumner is a law student whose degree is on hold due to poor. Six months ago, Sumner was working as a security guard in a condo complex one of whose AirB&B hosts had unwittingly rented to Doctor** Kersh, Luxembourg’s third greatest supervillain specializing in metahuman abilities. Mistakes were made, there was a Mass Origin Event and everyone within a certain radius of Kersh's device got empowered. Since the effect reached through walls, and since it took some time for abilities to manifest, those affected are not necessarily aware who else was empowered.
Sumner benefited in two ways. Firstly, he had a meet-cute with Tara Lemick, who he is currently dating. Secondly, he got physically enhanced, on top of which he got secondary force field-based powers that grant him a fairly impervious defences, a lot of flight, and boosts his strength to absurd levels. Knowing he can lift a tank and shrug off automatic weapons fire does a lot for his self-confidence, thus the presence boost when the force field is up and running. Somewhat annoyingly, the field is not quite bright enough to read by because I didn't have the seven points for change environment. Or rather I did but then I remembered I hate characters with variable speed values so I used those points differently.
One drawback to his new generic suite of abilities is that Sumner is affected by phenomena that don't usually affect people: effects that would affect desolid targets have more effect on him than normal. Another is that he needs the aura to live. This not normally a problem since even when the force field is shut down, the aura is still present in a quiescent state. Phenomena that decouple him from the aura cause him physical pain and could potentially kill him.
Out of an abundance of caution based in that partial law degree, Sumner decided to adopt a cape name rather than going public. Because the field has lambent glow similar to St. Elmo's fire, he picked the cape name "Foxfire". Do some people think he is either Firefox or Fox Bat? Yes, yes they do. Once the force field is fired up, the glow and change in his demeanour makes him hard to recognize (thus the instant change) but Sumner prefers to wear a mask as well just in case.
Tara was also empowered. Out of an abundance of caution, she also adopted a cape name: Lady Blue. She's a Robin Hood style social activist. Both Sumner and Tara believe in security by obscurity, thus she does not know Sumner is Foxfire and he has no idea Tara is Lady Blue. Many of their dates have ended awkwardly and for reasons that are unclear to both of them, Foxfire and Lady Blue keep running into each other unexpectedly.
Even in non-powered mode, Sumner retains enough abilities that an observant person could deduce he's enhanced to some degree. In particular, most people don't have even laughable small levels of resistant defences. Luckily for Sumner, Tara doesn't notice details like how Sumner never gets paper cuts. It's almost as though she and Sumner both have points induced cognitive blinders.
Two of Kersh's mooks acquired low grade brick powers, on par with Classic Enemies' Bulldozer. There's one important difference: they also have some abilities dependent on occasional exposure to Foxfire's force field. Although not terribly bright, they've worked out how their abilities work. When the latest charge runs down, they arrange to encounter Foxfire for however long it takes to get another boost. Sumner hasn't worked out why he keeps running into the Millers.
Baffled as to why he alone didn't get superhuman abilities, Kersh has spent a lot of time tracking down everyone who might have been affected. He is in the habit of arranging exciting events to better understand the nature of his subjects abilities. As it happens, Kersh is wrong to think he didn't get abilities. It's just that his self-examination didn't extend to passive powers, like power defences, mind shields, and knacks for fortuitously slipping though police cordons.
As to why Foxfire not on the local sanctioned mask team, there is an official reason and a real one.
When Sumner applied three months ago, he had not got the hang of turning the force field on quickly. Right now, it takes a couple of second but back then it was more like a minute. Without the aura-based powers, Foxfire is just a guy who can lift a car with some effort, someone can be taken down with small arms fire. The capes felt the combination of being unreliably invulnerable is an excellent recipe for sudden death. Foxfire was encouraged to seek opportunities elsewhere.
The real issue is the partial law degree combined with his psych lims, a consequence of which means Foxfire is unduly cautious about collateral damage, which means he's a brick who consistently pulls his punches lest he decapitate someone. You'd think that would be considered a good thing but taking the time to work out who is and is not a squishie is considered unprofessional dithering. As well, sanctioned capes, in particular the mentalists, find they have more leeway to act when nobody on the team is knowledgeable about the specifics of civil liberties.
Of course, Sumner applied in costume. Of course the capes worked out who he was almost immediately because they do superhero stuff for a living. Thus, the watched. Just because they don't want him in the group does not mean they don't want to keep tabs on him. After all, he could go super-villain.
Foxfire's reputation is one part not making the grade to join the capes, thus being consigned to the ranks of Tunemaster, Scamp: Sidekick for Hire, and Argus the Living Man (1987 - 2019), one part having tried to take Grond or his non-trademarked equivalent by ramming Grond, only be knocked cold on impact, and two parts the local capes make a point of undermining the reputation of unaffiliated supers.
no subject
Date: 2021-05-01 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-01 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-01 10:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-04 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-02 12:12 am (UTC)This could be extended to why my hypothetical character isn't on an official roster either- he's kind of condescending without being sufficiently powerful enough that the other capes were willing to put up with it.
--
Nathan H.
no subject
Date: 2021-05-02 02:35 am (UTC)I see no way this design choice could ever backfire at a crucial moment in play.
no subject
Date: 2021-05-02 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-02 07:45 pm (UTC)It doesn't seem hard to imagine fifteen points worth of utterly relentless trademark lawsuits.
no subject
Date: 2021-05-02 08:44 pm (UTC)Riderius
no subject
Date: 2021-05-04 08:45 pm (UTC)