What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

[Martin2]

With Hero you can build anything and have strange powers that gives a game effects from any SFX.

 

Players will try and get any game effect from their super power effect. Some will really try for a certain game effect and really push the believability of a super power effect.

 

Has anyone got any good examples of a power effect that you would not normally expect from that power but they explained it so well you allowed it?

 

Also what is the most weirdest example that you would never allow but thought it was very original?

[Lord Liaden]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

To be honest, I think the weirdest power rationale I've seen is one I came up with for an NPC.

 

This was for an undead monster which had been "upgraded" with extensive cybernetic/bionic implants. I gave the monster extraordinarily high Stealth and Concealment (Self Only) rolls (20- or better), with the rationale that the combination of undead flesh and unliving technology is so unnatural, people are instinctively unwilling to perceive them. This isn't the same as Invisibility; you could see the creature plainly if you deliberately looked right at it, or hear it if it made a loud noise. But if it was quiet or on the periphery of your vision, your brain would resist registering its presence. Even artificial sensors like cameras and video monitors were metaphysically "reluctant" to record these creatures, in a manner similar to a vampire not being reflected in a mirror.

[Christopher]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

To be honest, I think the weirdest power rationale I've seen is one I came up with for an NPC.

 

This was for an undead monster which had been "upgraded" with extensive cybernetic/bionic implants. I gave the monster extraordinarily high Stealth and Concealment (Self Only) rolls (20- or better), with the rationale that the combination of undead flesh and unliving technology is so unnatural, people are instinctively unwilling to perceive them. This isn't the same as Invisibility; you could see the creature plainly if you deliberately looked right at it, or hear it if it made a loud noise. But if it was quiet or on the periphery of your vision, your brain would resist registering its presence. Even artificial sensors like cameras and video monitors were metaphysically "reluctant" to record these creatures, in a manner similar to a vampire not being reflected in a mirror.

Ohh, nice Terry Pratchet/Douglas Adams explanation

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Back in the 80's my group all put together comedy Champions characters for a tongue in cheek Con game by buddy was running.

 

Turns out the villain of the piece was Doctor Nasty, a power armor mastermind parody, who was ralling the cavity creeps to do... something... I honestly can't remember.

 

What I do recall was the villainous Doctor's chief henchman, Zodo the frog. Zodo was a small-dog-sized frog with Cartman's personality and a nasty acid vomit attack. Zodo had a... unique physical disad. He was so bouncy that he took knockback from knockback damage, and a Vunerability that he took double knockback from physical attacks. Combine this with moderate defenses, 3/4 damage reduction, massive body, and regeneration.

 

So this foul mouthed frog would heap abuse on players and heave on them until someone finally creams him, whereupon he would fly like a rag doll at increasing velocity around the battlefield wiping things out until something arrested him or he went soaring off to the horizon, almost inevitably well into massive negative Stun.

[Martin2]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Back in the 80's my group all put together comedy Champions characters for a tongue in cheek Con game by buddy was running.

 

Turns out the villain of the piece was Doctor Nasty, a power armor mastermind parody, who was ralling the cavity creeps to do... something... I honestly can't remember.

 

What I do recall was the villainous Doctor's chief henchman, Zodo the frog. Zodo was a small-dog-sized frog with Cartman's personality and a nasty acid vomit attack. Zodo had a... unique physical disad. He was so bouncy that he took knockback from knockback damage, and a Vunerability that he took double knockback from physical attacks. Combine this with moderate defenses, 3/4 damage reduction, massive body, and regeneration.

 

So this foul mouthed frog would heap abuse on players and heave on them until someone finally creams him, whereupon he would fly like a rag doll at increasing velocity around the battlefield wiping things out until something arrested him or he went soaring off to the horizon, almost inevitably well into massive negative Stun.

 

Cool idea. I may have to steal that for a villain but possibly something that looks a bit more frightening then a frog

[concord]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Back in the 80's my group all put together comedy Champions characters for a tongue in cheek Con game by buddy was running.

 

Turns out the villain of the piece was Doctor Nasty, a power armor mastermind parody, who was ralling the cavity creeps to do... something... I honestly can't remember.

 

What I do recall was the villainous Doctor's chief henchman, Zodo the frog. Zodo was a small-dog-sized frog with Cartman's personality and a nasty acid vomit attack. Zodo had a... unique physical disad. He was so bouncy that he took knockback from knockback damage, and a Vunerability that he took double knockback from physical attacks. Combine this with moderate defenses, 3/4 damage reduction, massive body, and regeneration.

 

So this foul mouthed frog would heap abuse on players and heave on them until someone finally creams him, whereupon he would fly like a rag doll at increasing velocity around the battlefield wiping things out until something arrested him or he went soaring off to the horizon, almost inevitably well into massive negative Stun.

Pinball, anyone???

[Querysphinx]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Pinball' date=' anyone???[/quote']

 

I created a character by that name once, basically she had a globular force field/ wall, and leaping+move through triggered by collisions

[concord]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Special Effect: PRE

 

I never built him but I debated with Sean Patrick Fannon the merits of a wizard whose magic skill and effects were based on PRE. The wizard was so awe inspiring and/or fear inducing that his opponents suffered for and his allies benefited from it.

 

The strangest power I suggested from the effect was a force field against living opponents because they were either too fearful or awed to hit him with all their might...

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Back in the 80's my group all put together comedy Champions characters for a tongue in cheek Con game by buddy was running.

 

Turns out the villain of the piece was Doctor Nasty, a power armor mastermind parody, who was ralling the cavity creeps to do... something... I honestly can't remember.

 

What I do recall was the villainous Doctor's chief henchman, Zodo the frog. Zodo was a small-dog-sized frog with Cartman's personality and a nasty acid vomit attack. Zodo had a... unique physical disad. He was so bouncy that he took knockback from knockback damage, and a Vunerability that he took double knockback from physical attacks. Combine this with moderate defenses, 3/4 damage reduction, massive body, and regeneration.

 

So this foul mouthed frog would heap abuse on players and heave on them until someone finally creams him, whereupon he would fly like a rag doll at increasing velocity around the battlefield wiping things out until something arrested him or he went soaring off to the horizon, almost inevitably well into massive negative Stun.

 

I love this. I love this frog.

[Lucius]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Shouldn't be a frog. Should have been a lizard.

 

Pinball Lizard.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

And a deaf dumb and blind palindromedary

[McCoy]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Something I did with a character with an Invisible Girl type Force Field Sx. If Sue ever did this I've never seen it.

 

Place an air-tight FF around an opponent, expand it as large as possible as quickly as possible, watch their ears bleed. NND vs LS: high altitude/low pressure.

 

Humm, just occurred to me the opposite might make a good interrogation technique. "You are now experiencing two atmospheres of pressure, same as you would ten meters under water. What's that? Oh, I am so sorry, that was the wrong answer. Sue? Now this is four atmospheres, what you would experience thirty meters under water. Interesting fact, nitrogen is now dissolving in your blood. She drops the force field suddenly, your blood would fizz like soda pop. I've heard it is very painful, but just until one of those bubbles reaches your brain. Now I advise you to answer our questions, as I don't know just how long she can keep that force field in tact. Speak distinctly, please, the air pressure is distorting your voice."

[pinecone]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Special Effect: PRE

 

I never built him but I debated with Sean Patrick Fannon the merits of a wizard whose magic skill and effects were based on PRE. The wizard was so awe inspiring and/or fear inducing that his opponents suffered for and his allies benefited from it.

 

The strangest power I suggested from the effect was a force field against living opponents because they were either too fearful or awed to hit him with all their might...

I've seen something simular done with sex appeal....it seemed "OK" "I'm too seks-say for your haymaker"..

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Something I did with a character with an Invisible Girl type Force Field Sx. If Sue ever did this I've never seen it.

 

Place an air-tight FF around an opponent, expand it as large as possible as quickly as possible, watch their ears bleed. NND vs LS: high altitude/low pressure.

 

Humm, just occurred to me the opposite might make a good interrogation technique. "You are now experiencing two atmospheres of pressure, same as you would ten meters under water. What's that? Oh, I am so sorry, that was the wrong answer. Sue? Now this is four atmospheres, what you would experience thirty meters under water. Interesting fact, nitrogen is now dissolving in your blood. She drops the force field suddenly, your blood would fizz like soda pop. I've heard it is very painful, but just until one of those bubbles reaches your brain. Now I advise you to answer our questions, as I don't know just how long she can keep that force field in tact. Speak distinctly, please, the air pressure is distorting your voice."

 

Seems reasonable, since she can make them airtight if she wants. Could be pretty intimidating.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Something I did with a character with an Invisible Girl type Force Field Sx. If Sue ever did this I've never seen it.

 

Sue used that application early in Byrne's FF run against Spinerette. I think she may have done something similar to knock out the Hulk, though that may have just been a skintight field that didn't admit air.

[sinanju]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Hmmm. One player created a superhero named Copperhead. He had boatloads of Resistant PD withe severe limitation that it only protected him from collisions. He also had an obscene level of NCM on his obscene level of Flight. His whole schtick was that when a certain GM had the villain du jour getting away in helicopter or the like, Copperhead would attack like a SAM and utterly destroy the vehicle with his move-through attack. That was Copperhead's sole raison d'etre.

 

Then there was Prophylactus, the hero (and I use that term loosely) who had ridiculous levels of stretching (and STR) on his prehensile (Extra Limb) penis.

 

Another player created a Jedi with a lightsabre with an obscene number of limitations on it so he could buy an obscene level of damage with it, including that it was a NND attack, and the only defense was Resistant Flash Defense. Unsurprisingly, almost no one (and nothing) had that defense. Also built a linked power that caused an automatic attack on anyone who passed into or out of an adjacent hex whenever he was using the lightsabre (essentially he recreated the Attack of Opportunity from D&D....). This was in a round-robin GM game where each of us took turns running a session or three before passing the reins on to the next player; we ALL had powers that we all agreed none of us would have allowed if we were running a solo campaign; but it was an experiment in excess so we let a lot of stuff slide that no GM in his right mind would normally allow.

 

I created a character who could manipulate reality. I used tunneling to manifest doors where none had been; entangle (barriers only) to make doors and windows disappear; a short-range teleport so she could move at a casual walk while pursuing evildoers and yet every time they looked back, she was closer than she ought to be (or suddenly in front of them when they turned away again), and various other monster movie tropes. Also a low-powered Summon ability she could use to "coincidentally" stumble across any sort of person who could conceivably be found in the campaign city (cops, EMTs, taxicab drivers, pizza delivery guys, lawyers, whoever). All with Invisible Power Effects, so nobody could see her doing anything unusual.

[matrix3]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Hmmm. One player created a superhero named Copperhead. He had boatloads of Resistant PD withe severe limitation that it only protected him from collisions. He also had an obscene level of NCM on his obscene level of Flight. His whole schtick was that when a certain GM had the villain du jour getting away in helicopter or the like, Copperhead would attack like a SAM and utterly destroy the vehicle with his move-through attack. That was Copperhead's sole raison d'etre.

 

Then there was Prophylactus, the hero (and I use that term loosely) who had ridiculous levels of stretching (and STR) on his prehensile (Extra Limb) penis.

 

Another player created a Jedi with a lightsabre with an obscene number of limitations on it so he could buy an obscene level of damage with it, including that it was a NND attack, and the only defense was Resistant Flash Defense. Unsurprisingly, almost no one (and nothing) had that defense. Also built a linked power that caused an automatic attack on anyone who passed into or out of an adjacent hex whenever he was using the lightsabre (essentially he recreated the Attack of Opportunity from D&D....). This was in a round-robin GM game where each of us took turns running a session or three before passing the reins on to the next player; we ALL had powers that we all agreed none of us would have allowed if we were running a solo campaign; but it was an experiment in excess so we let a lot of stuff slide that no GM in his right mind would normally allow.

 

I created a character who could manipulate reality. I used tunneling to manifest doors where none had been; entangle (barriers only) to make doors and windows disappear; a short-range teleport so she could move at a casual walk while pursuing evildoers and yet every time they looked back, she was closer than she ought to be (or suddenly in front of them when they turned away again), and various other monster movie tropes. Also a low-powered Summon ability she could use to "coincidentally" stumble across any sort of person who could conceivably be found in the campaign city (cops, EMTs, taxicab drivers, pizza delivery guys, lawyers, whoever). All with Invisible Power Effects, so nobody could see her doing anything unusual.

 

 

I don't suppose you have a write up for that reality manipulator?

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

I love this. I love this frog.

 

On behalf of my dear departed friend Dan Popovitch, creator of Zodo the Bouncing Barfing Frog, I'd like to thank everyone for the Rep avalanche.

 

Miss ya buddy.

[sinanju]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

I don't suppose you have a write up for that reality manipulator?

 

As a matter of fact, I do. I don't actually have Invisible Power Effect included in this write-up, but you might want to include it. (Personally, my gaming group tends to handwave that sort of thing).

 

RAVEN

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

50 STR 5 19- Lift 25.6tons; 10d6 [4]

23 DEX 39 14- OCV: 8/DCV: 8

15 CON 10 12-

15 BODY 10 12-

13 INT 3 12- PER Roll 12-

18 EGO 16 13- ECV: 6

30 PRE 20 15- PRE Attack: 6d6

14 COM 2 12-

 

3/9 PD 0 Total: 3/9 PD (0/6 rPD)

3/9 ED 0 Total: 3/9 ED (0/6 rED)

5 SPD 17 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12

8 REC 4

30 END 0

31 STUN 0 Total Characteristic Cost: 126

 

Movement: Running: 6"/12"

Flight: 15"/60"

Leaping: 10"/20"

Swimming: 2"/4"

Teleportation: 26"/52"

Tunneling: 1"/2"

 

Cost Powers END

3 Life Support (Sleeping: Character does not sleep)

10 Familiar Haunts: Teleportation: Fixed Location (10 Locations)

60 Lucid Dreaming (Reality Manipulation): Multipower, 60-point reserve

2u 1) Punch Harder!: +35 STR (35 Active Points); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) 3

2u 2) I Have a Weapon!: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1 1/2d6 (3d6+1 w/STR) (25 Active Points) 2

Notes: SFX: Raven can always "find" or otherwise produce a knife or other hand weapon from nowhere.

10m 3) I Scoff at Gravity: Flight 15", Position Shift, x4 Noncombat, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (50 Active Points) 2

Notes: Raven can fly (obviously), but just as often she chooses instead to "wall-crawl" like Spider-Man (or Dracula), or to simply sit, stand or walk on walls or ceilings as if she were standing on the floor, the better to frighten people....

1u 4) You Only Nicked Me!: Armor (6 PD/6 ED) (18 Active Points); Only vs BODY Damage (-1/2), Always Lets the First Point of BODY Through (-1/2), Always Applied LAST of All Defenses (-0)

Notes: Raven dodges at the last moment, avoiding most of the damage--or simply summons the willpower to shrug off injury because "it's not real!" Because this doesn't prevent penetration by foreign objects, it's no more difficult to drug Raven than an unarmored person.

4u 5) Bullet Time I: Desolidification (affected by Speedsters, Area Effect attacks, any attack specifically designed to counter this ability), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (50 Active Points); Limited Power Must be free to move/dodge (-1/4) 2

Notes: Raven slows her perception of time, enabling her to move with superhuman speed--dodging punches, kicks, or gunfire, dancing through speeding traffic, and so forth.

11m 6) Bullet Time II: Teleportation 20", Position Shift, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (56 Active Points) 2

Notes: The classic "Slasher Movie" schtick--Someone turns away from Raven to flee, and there she is. They lock a door between them and Raven, only she's there with them. Or they're running away at speed while Raven follows at a walk. But somehow, every time they look back, she's closer than she ought to be....

1u 7) I'm With the Band: Shape Shift (Sight Group), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (15 Active Points); Limited Power Only as Long as Raven doesn't "break character." (-0)

Notes: Raven doesn't actually change her appearance. People may still recognize her--but with that peculiar logic of dreams, they simply find her presence unremarkable. The effect can last indefinitely, until Raven says or does something to break the illusion, or chooses to end it.

5u 8) Alter Reality I: Dispel 10d6, any object/device's powers, one at a time (+1/4), Invisible Power Effects, Source Only (Fully Invisible; +1/2) (52 Active Points) 5

Notes: More classic horror movie/nightmare schtick. Trying to escape? Your car's engine won't turn over. Trying to set off the alarm? Make a phone call for back-up? Sorry, your reliable gadgets have failed you. Trying to shoot Raven as she walks toward you? Oops. Your gun is somehow out of ammo, or jammed.

4u 9) Nightmarish Environment: Change Environment 16" radius (Long-Lasting 20 Minutes, Varying Combat Effects) (40 Active Points) 4

Notes: Raven causes the environment to take on a morbid, nightmarish quality. Possible effects include: an uncomfortable drop in temperature, foggy atmosphere or deep shadows (-3 to Sight Perception rolls), deadening or amplication of ambient noise (-3 Hearing Perception rolls), plants wilt, and other atmospheric effects.

4u 10) Look! A Door!: Tunneling 1" through 12 DEF material, Fill In (48 Active Points); Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4) 5

Notes: SFX: Raven makes use of a door, doorway, window or other opening that everyone thought was locked, or had never noticed before--if it even existed (and can close it behind her). Or sometimes simply kicks or punches her way through barriers to get to the bad guys....

6u 11) There's No Escape!: Entangle 4d6, 4 DEF, Invisible Power Effects, Source Only (Fully Invisible; +1/2) (60 Active Points) 6

Notes: Raven can fling blades to pin someone to a wall or floor, cause doors or windows to slam shut--or vanish entirely, and so forth.

1u 12) What A Coincidence!: Summon 4 15-point creatures (13 Active Points); Summoned Being Must Inhabit Locale (-1/2) 1

Notes: Raven can summon up to 4 75 Heroic Normals (such as a SWAT unit, EMTs, and so forth. They must be the sort of individuals to be found in Hudson City, and are generic--she can't summon _specific_ individuals. They will also react as they normally would to the situation if they'd truly arrived on their own. They may be helpful, neutral or hostile, depending on the circumstances.

3u 13) Dream Geography: Teleportation 6", MegaScale (1" = 1 km; +1/4), Usable By Other (+1/4), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), Continuous (+1) (36 Active Points); Limited Power Requires using an existing door or window (-1/4) 4

4u 14) It's Only A Scratch: Healing BODY 5d6, Can Heal Limbs (55 Active Points); Limited Power Can only occur out of combat, "discovering" that they're not nearly as bad as they seemed. (-1/2) 5

Freeform Mayhem

Maneuver OCV DCV Notes

4 Block (Martial Block) +2 +2 Block, Abort

4 Dodge (Martial Dodge) -- +5 Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort

4 Joint Lock/Throw +1 +0 Grab One Limb; 1d6 NND ; Target Falls

3 Legsweep +2 -1 11d6 Strike, Target Falls

5 Kick/Knee Strike (Offensive Strike) -2 +1 14d6 Strike

4 Nerve Strike -1 +1 2d6 NND

4 Punch/Elbow Strike (Martial Strike) +0 +2 12d6 Strike

3 Weapon Element: Blades, Clubs, Polearms and Spears

 

Perks

1 Liberates cash and useful equipment from the bad guys: Money: Well Off

15 Various Contacts (to be defined later): Custom Perk

Notes: Some are allies in her fight against corruption and crime; others are small fry in the underworld Wednesday has convinced to be more afraid of her than of their cronies.

 

Skills

Everyman Skills (Cost: 0 Points)

0 1) Acting 8-

0 2) Climbing 8-

0 3) Computer Programming 8-

0 4) Concealment 8-

0 5) Native: Language: English (idiomatic) (4 Active Points)

0 6) Paramedics 8-

1 7) PS: Cab Driver 11- (0 Active Points)

0 8) Shadowing 8-

0 9) Stealth 8-

0 10) TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles

4 AK: Hudson City 13-

3 Combat Driving 14-

3 Conversation 15-

3 Deduction 12-

24 +8 with Freeform Mayhem

10 Combat Awareness: Defense Maneuver I-IV

3 High Society 15-

3 Interrogation 15-

3 KS: The Law Enforcement World 12-

5 KS: Hudson City Underworld 14-

3 KS: Hudson City Supers 12-

3 Persuasion 15-

3 Seduction 15-

3 Streetwise 15-

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 252

Total Cost: 378

 

200+ Disadvantages

15 Hunted: Police 8- (As Pow; NCI; Harshly Punish)

20 Hunted: Numerous Underworld Figures 11- (As Pow; NCI; Harshly Punish)

15 Psychological Limitation: Justice, Not Law (Common; Strong)

15 Psychological Limitation: DIrect and Violent (Common; Strong)

15 Psychological Limitation: Free-Spirited and Willful (Common; Strong)

10 Psychological Limitation: Outsider Mentality (Common; Moderate)

10 Psychological Limitation: Prefers Not to Kill (Common; Moderate)

10 Psychological Limitation: Works Hard & Plays Hard (Common; Moderate)

10 Physical Limitation: Frightens Animals & Small Children (Frequently; Slightly Impairing)

1 Quirk: Considers Kate an unrealistic dreamer (oh the irony)

1 Quirk: Dresses all in black

1 Quirk: Maintains a journal "with" Kate

1 Quirk:

1 Quirk:

15 Reputation: Dangerous Lunatic, 11- (Extreme)

10 Social Limitation: Secret Identity (Occasionally; Major)

28 Experience Points

 

Total Disadvantage Points: 378

 

Background/History: Kate Sutherland was born and raised in Hudson City. Her father was a very successful reporter for the major city paper until he retired ten years ago. Kate grew up listening to tales of graft, corruption, violence—and heroism. Her father's passion for getting at the truth and for seeing justice done, his respect for those who shared his dedication, rubbed off on her. James Sutherland was pleased--and a little worried for her—when his youngest daughter announced that she wanted to become an attorney. Specifically, a prosecuting attorney.

 

Kate attended college, then law school and eventually got her law degree. She worked for years as a part-time cab driver to pay her way, so she knows Hudson City intimately. Kate started her career as a law clerk for the law firm Hassebrock, Hurley & Barrett. She was later hired as a prosecutor's intern, and then served as a Clerk to the Honorable Vincent Gambino, Hudson City Court of Common Pleas. Kate now works as an assistant prosecutor for the Hudson City Prosecutor's Office. It has been a sobering experience.

 

She thought she'd known what to expect based on her father's tales, but it isn't the dramatic conflicts that wear down the soul. It's the never-ending struggle against willful incompetence and ignorance, greed, ambition and petty power struggles. Kate soldiered on even as her enthusiasm for the job was ground down. Nonetheless, Kate was determined to make a difference. Her life changed completely when she was assigned to prosecute a prominent "businessman" with ties to the Marcelli crime syndicate for a murder-for-hire.

 

It was not her first big case, but it was the most important one so far. Kate worked hard to prepare the case, studying the law, studying the evidence, struggling with frightened and uncooperative witnesses, foot dragging by surly cops and pressure from her superiors to drop the case. Kate persevered, overcoming innumerable legal challenges and increasingly overt threats to her own safety—only to be brutally assaulted and nearly killed. She survived with no permanent injuries, but her convalescence took months.

 

Her lengthy recuperation was excuse enough for the DA to turn the case over to another assistant prosecutor, Simon Taggart. Two weeks later the charges were all dismissed with prejudice. Kate was furious, but despite her best efforts could find no proof of what she was convinced was a deliberate torpedoing of the case by Taggart. She is convinced that he's dirty, and is still watching and waiting for an opportunity to prove it. Kate suspects that the current DA will be retiring soon, and she would like his job, but at the very least is determined to assure that Taggart does not succeed him.

 

Once she'd recovered from her injuries, Kate was determined to do everything she could to make sure it never happened again. She began taking self-defense classes. She also obtained a carry permit for a concealed handgun and training in its use. Finally, she found a source for fashionable jackets with a ballistic cloth lining. And she went back to work with renewed zeal. On the surface, everything was fine. But only on the surface.

 

In truth, Kate was constantly troubled by memories of the attack and its aftermath. She began to have trouble concentrating at work, her appetite declined, and she had trouble sleeping. She tried to work through it, but the problems grew steadily worse. She lost weight, she was constantly exhausted, and her work began to suffer. She rebuffed the efforts of friends and colleagues to help her and began drinking too much. It all came to a head one night when she drank herself into a stupor and fell into a troubled sleep.

 

Kate dreamed. In her dream, she was a small, dark woman who called herself Raven, and she knew something no one else seemed to realize. Hudson City wasn't just a nightmarish city of corruption and violence—it was literally a nightmare. Raven saw the truth—and seeing it, could alter the dreamscape in which she moved. She used her lucidity to do impossible things in her pursuit of justice, performing feats of inhuman strength and speed, shrugging off attacks that should have killed her, defying gravity, and even changing the landscape around her to suit her dark purposes.

 

Kate woke the next morning hungover but feeling more rested than she had in weeks. She recalled the dream with pleasure. She found herself better able to concentrate on work, and ate better as well. She spent the day struggling to obtain the testimony of two small time criminals against their boss, but they adamantly refused to talk. That night she dreamed of Raven again. This time Raven tracked down the reluctant witnesses and terrorized them into testifying against their employer. It was a very...satisfying dream.

 

Kate again woke rested and eager to get to work, wishing that her problems with uncooperative witnesses could be so easily solved in real life. It was when the two witnesses arrived at her office that morning with a lawyer in tow that Kate began to grasp the truth. Raven was real, and had terrorized the two men exactly the way she remembered it from her dreams. Kate was simultaneously excited and appalled by the revelation.

 

The lawyer hinted that the D.A.'s office was behind this assault on her clients and demanded that charges against them be dropped—with no requirement for testimony. Kate argued, but the evidence of the assault was clear and her heart wasn't in it. A private fantasy was one thing, but her mysterious enforcer—whoever and whatever she was—had blatantly violated the law and tainted the case. That was not how Kate wanted to do business even if no one could prove Raven had any connection to Kate. She dropped the charges. It was an expensive lesson she would not forget.

 

At first Kate believed that Raven was some "Monster from the Id" and could only come out when she slept. That theory collapsed when Kate lay down to sleep that night, tossed and turned restlessly, and finally rose again feeling as if she were not herself. She looked into her mirror to confirm her suspicions; Raven looked back at her. Shocked, she felt—and saw in her mirror—the transformation back to her familiar face.

 

Kate soon learned to make the transition at will, but it was a frightening one. She was Raven and at the same time...not. Raven lived in a different world, thought differently, felt differently, and acted in ways that both appalled and liberated Kate. Raven felt just as ambivalent about her staid, conservative alter ego. One of the ways in which she copes with this situation is keeping a journal; she writes in it as Kate and as Raven. Though one persona sometimes responds to thoughts or fears expressed by the other, for the most part the journal documents that they're merely two sides of the same person, and sometimes Kate really needs that assurance.

 

In the months since the discovery of her dual identity, Raven has become well known in the Hudson City underworld. She is neither the most violent nor the craziest hero in Detroit, but she is arguably the scariest, if only because reality itself seems to go crazy whenever she's around.

 

Personality/Motivation: Kate and Raven are two sides of the same coin, both devoted to seeing justice done, but with radically different approaches.

 

Kate is an idealist. She isn't naïve. She's well aware that many of her fellow citizens are more concerned with their own advancement than with justice, that too many of those tasked with enforcing the law are among them. That just makes it more important for those who care about justice to fight for it. Kate's chosen field of battle is the courtroom. Her mission in life is to see that the innocent are protected and the guilty punished. She is patient, methodical and driven. Kate is always careful to see that her methods do not undermine her goals; the ends do not justify the means. She strives to maintain her decorum and professionalism at all times, always aware that her behavior can reflect upon on her office and influence its reputation and effectiveness.

 

Raven, by contrast, is everything Kate cannot be: impulsive, sensual, direct and violent—prone to administering "street justice" to bad guys, willing to use violence and intimidation to obtain information or cooperation. She doesn't believe that the system works, and pities Kate for her continuing belief that it can be made to work. Raven views the whole world with grim amusement, knowing as she does that it is all a communal dream and that it is a dark place because that's what people expect it to be. She embraces the darkness and revels in it. Her detachment from the world comes across in many ways; animals and small children are particularly sensitive to it and are often alarmed by her presence.

 

Quote: “Of course the rules are immutable—if that's the way you want them. Me, I prefer being a lucid dreamer.”

 

Powers/Tactics: Kate is a well trained and experienced prosecutor. She knows the law, she knows how to build a case and convince a jury. She has acquired self-defense training in both hand-to-hand combat and with firearms, but her chosen battlefield is the courtroom. She does a great deal of interviewing as part of her job (reluctant cops, lazy or corrupt or both, have made doing a lot of her own investigations a necessity) and has become a fairly good amateur detective. Kate has cultivated a number of useful contacts, individuals both within and without the government who share her desire to see justice done. Kate carries a licensed concealed handgun and has learned how to use it.

 

Raven is stronger and tougher than Kate despite her small size, superhumanly agile, and has an unmistakable presence. Her primary power—her only power, really—is her ability to manipulate reality, the "dreamscape" in which she lives. She can most easily alter her own interactions with the world, performing feats of strength, speed and toughness beyond normal human limits. Raven can slow her subjective experience of time, giving her the ability to dodge bullets, dance through speeding traffic and the like. She can also defy gravity to walk on horizontal surfaces, make fantastic leaps or even fly. She can produce a variety of hand to hand weapons from nowhere (though she has a marked preference for blades); like a slasher flick villain, she's never unarmed.

 

Raven can even alter the very landscape around her to a limited degree, imposing a nightmarish aura to the scene. Weapons and machinery may malfunction, lights go out, computers crash, car engines stall out, door slam shut or vanish behind someone—all the typical tropes of nightmares or monster movies. When Hudson City criminals start feeling like they've wandered onto the set of a horror movie, they've learned that Raven is probably not far away....

 

Campaign Use:

 

Appearance: Kate is an attractive woman in her thirties with short blond hair and blue eyes, typically dressed in fashionable but conservative skirts, blouses and jackets suitable for appearing in court.

 

Raven is a small, slender woman with black hair, very dark eyes and extremely pale skin. Her attire varies but it is generally black. Her typical outfit consists of a sleeveless long black dress in pvc, vinyl, velvet or leather, and similar boots. In cold or rainy weather, she often adds a long black duster or trench coat.

[phoenix240]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

I like her. She's similar to a reality manipulator in our Wyldstrke games but her powers are based on the idea she knows she's in a comic book. Teleportation based on stepping between panels, telepathy "reading thought bubbles", Luck based on Pre/Persuasion roll "Sweet talking the writers." that sort of thing.

[sinanju]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Thanks. I like the "lucid dreamer" idea, but I'd find the "I'm in a comic book" bit just a bit too meta for my tastes.

 

I especially like Bullet Time II and I'm With The Band. The first lets me duplicate classic slasher flick gags. The second lets me duplicate the weirdness of dreams, where someone who really ought to stand out just seems to fit in, and it's only after you wake up (or Raven drops the Shapeshift) that you realize you've just included her in your evil plotting or brought her along on your criminal caper....

[phoenix240]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Thanks. I like the "lucid dreamer" idea' date=' but I'd find the "I'm in a comic book" bit just a bit too meta for my tastes.[/quote']

 

If it helps, she's wrong and delusional. She's not a character in a comic book. She's a character in a role playing game.

[Erkenfresh]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

I have a player who's superhero is a lightning elemental. One of his powers is to possess a human corpse and reanimate it, at least until it decays normally. His electrical impulses can move the muscles of the body so he looks and sounds like a normal person. It's a simple Shape Shift with an expendable focus of "corpse".

[Christopher]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

I have a player who's superhero is a lightning elemental. One of his powers is to possess a human corpse and reanimate it' date=' at least until it decays normally. His electrical impulses can move the muscles of the body so he looks and sounds like a normal person. It's a simple Shape Shift with an expendable focus of "corpse". [/quote']

Now I picture a zombie running around saying "Voooollltttss".

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

If it helps' date=' she's wrong and delusional. She's not a character in a comic book. She's a character in a role playing game. [/quote']

 

She needs to meet up with Foxbat.

[Erkenfresh]

Re: What is the strangest super power you have allowed from a SFX?

 

Now I picture a zombie running around saying "Voooollltttss".

 

Oh man, he'd get a kick out of that.