These two started out as the first two actual player characters in my early games when we were testing the system out. Their players have moved on to other heroes since then, but they agreed to have their old ones "retire" to reservists status and they've shown up a few times since as NPC lieutenants and once as active PCs again when their creators wanted to give them another chance in the spotlight.
Sergeant Freeman
Description: Pale gray cargo fatigues, jacket worn open over a white tee with the US flag on it, chunky black combat boots and a black web belt. Discrete commo bud and throat mike. Everything's reinforced to deal with his tendency to smash through walls, but the comms rarely survive a fight. He usually has less indestructible allies carry some spares for him. Has room for a fair amount of gear in all those big pockets but it just gets broken so there's usually nothing but some gum in there. He can, in fact, chew gum and kick ass at the same time.
Gender: Male Age: 42 Height: 6'1" Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black Buzzcut Skin: Dark Build: Muscular
Background: Military Power Source: Higher Power Archetype: Armored
Personality: Stalwart
Health (G/Y/R): 32/24/11
Powers: Vitality d10, Leaping d8, Momentum d8, Speed d8, Strength d8
Qualities: Fitness d10, Leadership d10, Army Combat Veteran d8, Self-Discipline d8
Status: Green (32-25) - d8 / Yellow (24-12) - d8 / Red (11-1) - d8
Abilities:
Green
Can't Be Stopped (A) Attack using Momentum. Ignore all penalties and any Defend actions during this Attack, and it cannot be affected by Reactions.
Covering Move (A) Attack using Vitality. Defend another target with your Min die.
Keep On Fighting (A) Attack using Vitality. Recover Health equal to your Min die.
Motivated (I) At the start of your turn remove any -1 penalties on you.
Principle of the Defender (A) Overcome in a situation that requires you to hold the line. Use your Max die, or use your Mid die and Defend with your Min die. You and your allies each gain a Hero Point. Minor twist: How do your actions put you in more danger? Major twist: What great sacrifice did you just make to succeed? RP: You will protect others without hesitation.
Principle of the Indestructible (A) Overcome when you charge headlong into danger. Use your Max die. You and your allies each gain a Hero Point. Minor twist: What goes wrong with your defenses? Major twist: Who got hurt other than you as a result of you not being able to take damage? RP: You ignore damage from unpowered attacks such as clubs, fists, arrows, etc.
Tough As Nails (I) Reduce any physical or energy damage dealt to you by 1 (in the Green zone), 2 (in the Yellow zone), or 3 (in the Red zone).
Yellow
Coordinated Attack (A) Attack using Strength. Boost all nearby heroes taking Attack or Overcome actions using your Min die until your next turn.
Sudden Surge (A) Attack multiple targets using Speed. Use your Mid die. Hinder all targets damaged by this ability with your Min die. Hinder yourself with your Max die.
Red
Make It Hurt (I) Whenever you Attack a target with an action, you may also Hinder that target with your Min die.
Ongoing Surge (I) When you use an ability action, you may also perform any one basic action using your Mid die from that roll.
Save the Day (A) Overcome using Self Discipline. Use you Max + Min dice. Hinder all nearby opponents with your Mid die.
Out (A) Defend an ally by rolling your single Vitality die.
Character Brief: James Freeman was sergeant in the US Army up until his superpowers manifested on September 11, 2001, after which he honorably discharged per the UN Superhuman De-Militarization Agreement and "volunteered" to work with the strictly civilian Superhuman Coordination Administration. He'd rather have stayed in uniform, but over the last twenty years he's gotten comfortable with the superhero thing. His current, entirely voluntary and non-military assignment has him working in [campaign city] as a regional reservist for [local superteam] under SCA oversight. He's built a good working relationship with the Chicago Rocket and shares her views on supers having a civic responsibility to use their powers for the public good.
The source of his powers is still unknown to him and his handlers, although they're assumed to be a sudden genetic expression or a reaction to some unknown energy field. In actual fact they stem from a metaphysical entity best described as the spirit of the American national ideal. There have been previous hosts of this power starting in 1812, but it wasn't until World War I that any of them manifested recognizable superpowers, albeit rather limited ones (the "Blue Eagle" was a pilot who gained the ability to actually fly under his own power). Since then several supers have been secretly empowered by this force, most often developing their abilities during wartime or some other crisis. Hosts are invariably patriotic, but not blind to the nation's flaws. Their patron spirit calls for faith in the ideals of the country and the strength of the American people, not willful ignorance of the all too often ugly realities of the nation.
Trivia: He was originally assigned the supranym "Captain Freedom" by the SCA but hated the name so much he managed to get it changed to Sergeant Freeman. It's barely a code name at all, but no one else is likely to want it and there's now another Captain Freedom working out of Washington State who's perfectly content with the name. "Captain? Mister, I work for a living!"
The Chicago Rocket
Description: Medium-blue bodysuit that covers most of her face as well, leaving only her nose, mouth, and hair exposed. Red six-pointed star on a white background with a thin light blue border centered on her chest (see the Chicago city flag for colors). Tight fitting darker blue gloves and boots. Gray utility belt slung low on her hips, loaded with a miscellany of small tools, flex cuff tape, chemical and explosive capsules, etc. Outfit has an integrated hands-free commo rig, basic biometric sensors and concealed tracking beacon for emergencies. The lady knows where to shop.
Gender: Female Age: Ageless? (looks 24, born 1921) Height: 5'1" Eyes: Green
Hair: Red Shoulder Length Skin: Mildly Sunburned Build: Athletic
Background: Retired Power Source: Multiverse Archetype: Transporter
Personality: Cheerful
Health (G/Y/R): 30/22/11
Powers: Speed d12, Deduction d6, Gadgets d6, Intangibility d6, Teleportation d6
Qualities: Close Combat d10, Criminal Underworld Info d10, Insight d10, Hyperspeed Law Enforcer d8, History d8
Status: Green (30-23) - d10 / Yellow (22-12) - d8 / Red (11-1) - d6
Abilities:
Green
Principle of Levity (A) Overcome in a dire situation where your good humor can prevent demoralization. Use your Max die. You and your allies each gain a Hero Point. Minor twist: Who did you offend with your ill-timed levity? Major twist: What just occurred to finally break your good spirits? RP: Your spirit is nearly impossible to break.
Principle of Speed (I) When you successfully Overcome you may end up anywhere in the current environment. You and your allies each gain a Hero Point. Minor twist: What physical drawbacks do you suffer from pushing so hard? Major twist: What critical detail did you skip past earlier that's now coming back to haunt you?
Shove Through Non-space (A) Attack using Teleportation. Either Hinder your target with your Mid die, or move them somewhere else in the scene.
Supersonic Gangbuster (A) Attack multiple targets using Speed. Use your Min die against each.
Yellow
Evasive Strike (A) Attack using Speed. Defend against all Attacks against you using your Min die until your next turn.
Gimmicks (A) Attack using Gadgets. If your target survived, Hinder them using your Max die.
Push Yourself (A) Boost yourself using Speed. Use your Max die. That bonus is persistent and exclusive. Then Attack using your Min die.
Red
Dash Block (R) When an opponent Attacks, you may become the target of that Attack and Defend by rolling your single Close Combat die.
No Limits (I) You have no limit on the number of Reactions you can take. Each time you use a Reaction after the first one before your next turn, take 1 irreducible damage or a minor twist.
Trade Shots (R) When you are Attacked and dealt damage, you may Attack the source of that damage by rolling your single Speed die plus the amount of damage you took.
Out (A) Boost an ally by rolling your single Speed die.
Character Brief
FIB Agent Jane Kelly is far from home. She isn't even native to this universe, having been born in an alternate timeline that was running considerably behind our own. Jane gained her powers in her 1944 when she was exposed to exotic energies during a katatron test at a top sacret research facility. She used these powers along with her FIB training to fight crime and saboteurs as the Chicago Rocket. During the final year of World War II the failure of the Chicago Project led to Operation Downfall, an all-out assault of the Japanese home islands in late 1945. Every available super was called up for the initial landing attempts, and Jane found herself pushing her powers to new extremes in an attempt to save as many GIs as possible. She took the strain - but reality didn't. The Chicago Rocket vanished on August 6, 1945, never to be seen again.
Jane fell through non-space and found herself in a Kyushu that wasn't at war. She was stunned, and it took even her nearly two days of hyperspeed investigation to get a grip on the world she found herself in. The year was 1999, the War had ended over half a century ago, and this timeline's Jane Kelly had died in a car accident forty years ago. The 1940s of this world were eerily familiar but wrong in so many ways, and the "future" of 1999 was even more confusing. In the end there was nothing to do but approach this world's warped version of the FIB, and after some confusion she was turned over to the Superhuman Coordination Administration for counseling and assignment. She adjusted quickly (she does everything quickly since the katatron accident) and has spent over twenty years as a civilian super, going through several temporary team positions and lately working as a regional reservist based in [campaign city], home to [local superteam]. She's gotten fairly close to Sergeant Freeman, who's been the best partner she's had since her FIB days when she was "just" a counterespionage agent.
Trivia: Jane still regularly messes up the order of the letters in FBI, which obviously ought to be FIB ("Federal Investigation Bureau") instead. She also can't believe they actually had J. Edgar Hoover in charge of the Bureau. In her original universe they threw the creep out on his ear in 1936, and she was there when they quietly arrested him in 1943 when he turned out to be a Russian spy after the secrets of the Chicago Project.
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