An somewhat tongue-in-cheek hero concept ported in from another game system, Supers RED in this case. Not quite as true to the original as the previous Syracuse Seven ports from Tiny D6 Supers were, but an interesting project.
The Bohemian
Jack Samson was born in the late 1940s, grew up alongside the Beat Generation and was just the right age to really appreciate the Summer of Love, which is when he developed his powers through experimentation with super-science recreational drugs. One side effect stopped his aging, so he's a perpetual 20-something and has spent decades as a minor street level hero whose image and priorities evolve alongside the counterculture of the day. While he currently goes by his original supranym as the Bohemian, he's also done the hero thing as the Beat(nik) Artist, Longhair, Tranquility Jack, just plain Samson, and Mohawk Max (during his punk phase).
Never a big fan of "the Man" and other authorities, he's also staunchly opposed to criminals who victimize their own - although he's more likely to try to redeem them than leave them for the courts. A generally laid-back soul, he'd rather use his empathic ability to influence emotions to settle conflicts. If he has to resort to force, his motile hair is as strong as steel cable, can extend almost fifty feet, and can regrow itself with alarming speed. More than a few criminals have found themselves "cuffed" by his locks over the years.
Jack came to [campaign city] way back in the 70s to help with [big historical crossover event story] and its aftermath, and while he's gotten the urge to go travelling many times he always seems to drift back eventually.
Description: A picture is worth a thousand words, and here's a reasonable image of him in his Bohemian persona.
Gender: Male Age: Looks 20-something (born 1948) Height: 5'11" Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown, Motile Skin: Caucasian Build: Thin
Background: Unremarkable Power Source: Experimentation Archetype: Wild Card
Personality: Cheerful Health (G/Y/R): 26/20/9
Powers: Presence d10, Elasticity d8, Wall-Crawling d8, Strength d6
Qualities: Persuasion d10, Ageless Counterculture Hero d8, Conviction (The world can be a better place, but we have to work for it) d8, Finesse d8, Insight d8
Status: Green (26-21) - d10 / Yellow (20-10) - d8 / Red (9-1) - d6
Abilities:
Green
A Little Karmic Justice (I) At the start of your turn, remove a penalty on yourself.
Good Vibes, Bad Vibes (A) Boost or Hinder using Presence. Use your Max die. If you roll doubles, also Attack with your Mid die.
I Could Do Better (R) After rolling your die pool during your turn, you may take one irreducible damage to reroll your entire pool.
Principle of the Hero (A) Overcome in a situation where innocent people are in immediate danger. Use your Max die. You and your allies each gain a Hero Point. Minor twist: Your immediate need to help someone causes you to drop the ball in your personal life. What was it? Major twist: You're given an ultimatum between your life as a hero and something else you value. What do you give up? RP: Because of your abilities, you have a calling to protect others.
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.
Yellow
Hair Everywhere (A) Attack multiple targets using Elasticity. If you roll doubles, one nearby ally is also hit by the Attack.
The Power of Self-Affirmation (A) Boost yourself using Presence. Use your Max die. That bonus is persistent and exclusive.
Watch Out Or You'll End Up Like That Guy (R) When a nearby ally in the Yellow or Red zone would take damage, Defend against that damage by rolling your single Elasticity die, then redirect any remaining damage to a nearby minion of your choice.
Red
It Grows Back, You Know (A) Hinder yourself using Elasticity. Use your Min die. Recover Health equal to your Max + Mid dice.
See the World In Slo-Mo (I) When you use an ability action, you may also perform any one basic action using your Mid die.
Shared Trip (A) Boost another hero using Presence. If that hero has already acted this round, use your Max die and that hero loses Health equal to your Min die. That hero acts next in turn order.
Out
Keep On Keeping On (A) Boost an ally by rolling your single Presence die.
Tactics
Bohemian is at his best in the Green when things are still relatively chill, and he'll spend his time in it working on challenges with his Principles if he can, or using Good Vibes, Bad Vibes to hand out mods as he nudges the emotions of those around him. He'll use I Could Do Better to reroll particularly bad results, which also helps fish for doubles and get off some early Attacks - none of which will be all that harmful, and anyone defeated by his damage is either hopelessly snared in hair or so mellowed out they don't want to fight any more. A Little Karmic Justice lets him shed penalties with ease, and he'll often take minor twists for risky actions or to use abilities early with the hope that they'll result in effects that are more hindering than injurious. GMs shouldn't let that happen all the time, but he shouldn't be penalized by never getting penalty-related twists just because he has this ability.
In Yellow he'll try to set up a persistent bonus on himself using The Power of Self-Affirmation if he didn't already twist to use it early, then continue with generating mods or switch to physical offense with Hair Everywhere, carefully rerolling doubles if he has to limit harm to allies while clearing out softer targets. Otherwise he prefers to reserve his reaction for Watch Out Or You'll End up Like That Guy, which is phenomenal ally defense as long as there are deserving minions around to deflect to. He may also twist to pull off one of his Red action abilities early, either of which can quite powerful when timed right.
Finally, when he reaches Red he can prop himself back up with It Grows Back, You Know. Bohemian's low Health makes it quite possible to heal from Red all the way into Green with a good roll and/or bonuses, although sadly his status die won't recover if the scene tracker is past Green. If he doesn't, he can use Shared Trip to grant an ally a second turn in the same round with a hefty bonus, although he's more likely to do this in Yellow with a twist. In either case, when he's actually in Red himself he also gets a free basic action with See The World In Slo-Mo, making already solid abilities even stronger and potentially making it safer to loiter in Red by Defending or Hindering.
Even when Out his allies will Keep On Keeping On thanks to his positive attitude.
Design Notes
Bohemian started out as a Supers RED character in a play by post game, the first one I'd built for the system in years. It showed too, because I had too firm a concept in mind (goofy though it might have been) and tried to do too much with too few points. The result was a character with decidedly sub-par die pools for the game's 5D cap, and he's been staying alive largely through luck so far. For anyone who plays Supers RED, here's his starting writeup:
Name & Supranym (largely interchangeable based on his mood and wardrobe at the moment)
Concept
Background
Resistances (7)
Aptitudes (2)
Powers (15)
Advantages (0)
Disadvantages (-4)
Yeah, not so hot. That's what happens when you're rusty with a rules set.
Porting him to Sentinel Comics proved to be a challenge, although I've mostly managed to keep to a similar (lackluster) level of power and the character is still recognizable. He leans more on his "emotion control" (represented by Presence and aided by Persuasion and Insight) here than his motile, extensible, super-strong hair (represented by Elasticity, Wall-Crawling and Finesse), and only keeps a vestige of his former super-athletics (which I took mostly for defining speed and lifting capacity). In Sentinels he's got a decent but but not amazing "mod warfare" game, a solid multi-target ability in Yellow, and an efficient set of Red zone "emergency" powers. Likely to work best when taking twists to use some abilities a zone early.
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