Superheroes! Punching Crime! Yeaaaaah! Sign-Up

[Arcanum]

Originally Posted by Arhra

Arcanum: Hmm, I'm a little nebulous on coming from ANOTHER DIMENSION, but that's mainly because I hadn't given any thought to the idea before now. Much more importantly, your guy seems pretty weak.

Oh damn, I thought I wrote in down on my sheet but I must have forgotten, which is pretty dumb of me considering how essential it is to the character. How's he power-wise if I add this:

Extra-dimensional Power: Even though Edgar is unaware of his origins, that doesn't mean he can't take advantage of it. While he is far removed from his original strength and speed, he's still much stronger and faster than above-average humans. He can jump up to ten feet in the air, which he often does in the middle of combat while spinning or flipping, and can punch holes clean through cinder block walls, though he prefers not to since the last time he tried his hand was bruised for a week.

While the danger of guns is lessened by the generous laws of comic book physics, bullets are not your friends. Or any form of ranged attack really. Feels like a glory seeker should be a little flashier as well.

The gun form of his shiftblades don't fire bullets, they fire compressed air that pack the same strength as one of Edgar's punches. And that's only when he's about six-eight feet away. Any further and the power of the air-bullet-punch dramatically decreases. Plus that's only the one form of his shiftblades, as Edgar tends to switch between forms a lot in the midst of a fight. And he only really uses the guns to catch an opponent off-guard when they're out of range of his melee attacks.


edit-- Oh and in regards to the "from another dimension" thing, while yeah, he's a being from another dimension, he has no idea that he is. He just believes that his powers stem from some mutant gene, especially considering how common it is in the world. With so many people like him out there, he never bothered to question why he has his powers, why he doesn't age, or why he can't remember anything before waking up in a crater.

[Astral Harmony]

If she's underpowered, I could always throw in a sidekick.

[PhoenixFlame]

Originally Posted by Dracorion

And then there's Phoenix's character, who lost her job and started superheroing.

Ah, the tragic nature of being shot with a beam of anti-protons.

People've become superheroes for less in the past.

[Arhra]

Oh damn, I missed KP. Needless to say not only is his character approved, he is ultra-excellent!

Steel: Good so far. Looking forward to the rest.

Arcanum: sorry, I was unclear. Your air compression guns are fine, I was more worried about your guy getting shot. He didn't seem to have many options for covering the distance. Crazy athleticism should cover that, so you're approved.

Originally Posted by Dracorion

Well I tried to grade her strength based on the "fighting against half a dozen mooks has to be interesting" bit. If she's too strong, there's nothing stopping her from throwing something heavy at them. If she's too fast, all she has to do is punch them in the face five times before anyone can get a shot out. If she's too durable, no need to even worry about dodging, just walk up to them and punch them out at normal strength while invulnerable.

If you had all those powers at their present strength active simultaneously, you might be a little too strong, but not too much. And that's mainly due to my caution around superspeed.

Originally Posted by Dracorion

On motive, I don't agree with you. "Get powers, decide to fight crime" is about as much motive as other characters have, and you've approved them.

Fortunately, I agree with me. You see, they have all gained superpowers and decided to fight crime for some reason while your character has no reason.

Look your character just comes across as hopelessly generic to me right now, so I really don't like it. Generic personality, generic powers, generic backstory, generic everything! It all feels so... flat.

Originally Posted by Dracorion

As for the military controlling her... yeah, I think not. Mainly because there wouldn't be much reason for them to let her join a superhero team, or live anywhere outside of a reinforced cell. After all, just because she hasn't gone crazy yet like the other test subject doesn't mean she won't.

Hell, the only reason she isn't living in a reinforced cell is because her father is the most decorated human on the face of the planet. Dude's probably won like thirty wars or something, or the equivalent in a world full of superpowered beings.

This is neither a monarchy nor an anime. The military does not make special exceptions for family. It does not work that way.

Originally Posted by IHateMakingNames

My guy got complimented and started super heroing. That isn't much better of a reason.

Well, I saw it as when you're living as a hopeless drifter any positive action is going to feel much more significant.

And it is a reason, yes?

Plus, you know, actual backstory helps.

Originally Posted by Dracorion

And then there's Phoenix's character, who lost her job and started superheroing.

It's kind of a character point that Vixen is feeling she doesn't have any other options.

[PhoenixFlame]

Originally Posted by Arhra

It's kind of a character point that Vixen is feeling she doesn't have any other options.

"HERESY!" didn't become a 40k Meme because humanity *wasn't* inclined to kill outsiders for little reason beyond 'they look different!'

[Toastburner B]

Originally Posted by Arhra

Toastburner:
On the lethal ammo, I'm sure you're planning to use it on the sort of thing where more force is needed, but I'll just restate this for everyone: superheroes don't kill.

Right. I totally didn't forget that and only planned to use lethal ammo on robots/zombies/stuff like that. That was the plan all along. Right?

I'll tone down the lethal ammo.

Could you give some info about what the upper ends of the beam weapon firepower is and whether Sentry can fight effectively in the air or is it more a fast reposition thing? Just need to know a little more to be able to decide.

Right, I'll go tweak my character.

EDIT: Tweaking done.

The long and the short of it is:

Flight: More a means of transit than battle. Not a dogfighter by any means...more of a civilian helicopter.

Lethal beams are like blasters in Star Wars: can cut through unarmed targets, but still has to burn through armor. Added a limited duration point-blank range cutting mean for heavy armor, if that is alright.

[TheBlindMime]

Originally Posted by Arhra

I do have some concerns about the 'just passing through' element and being a loner. I was hoping to form the players out into a group later on, so how were you thinking of responding to that?

He'll be reluctant but I was thinking that I could find some hook in the plot to get Eli involved in a way that prevents leaving from being an option. A death he feels responsible for, harm to a descendent of the americans that saved him, trouble that he helped bring to this town, another hero helping him out, etc...

Eli has managed to slip in and out of cities since gaining his powers, I thought it would be interesting to play out not a characters origin's but the origin of his becoming a superhero. I'm sure whatever you have planned is a fight none of the heroes can walk away from.

[Inbred Chocobo]

Name: Drake Don Veinhammer
Alias: He has no alias
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Appearance: He looks like he means business, black combat armor on with a leather duster. It looks like he has a pistol and a spot for grenades, the only thing off is the katana hanging by his side. His hair is cut short, and a pair of shades sit on his eyes, sleek, yet they never seem to fall off.
Equipment:
Carbon Katana: Basically a really sharp katana built to withstand being sent through anything. When out of it's sheath, its actually a pitch-black blade, instead of shiny like most people are use too.

Armored: His clothing and leather duster also have some carbon-fiber wire running through like a net pattern in them, basically allowing them to soak up a lot more than just standard armor.

Pistols: He has a few actually. One is loaded with your standard ballistic ammunition. Another is loaded with tranqs, a third is armor peircing, for fighting heavy armored foes.

Grenades: No frags, just flash and smokes.

Abilities:
Androided: About 65% of Drake is actually mechanical, as after a severe accident at 18 he lost most of his limbs and his torso was torn up. This has given him far better speed and strength than normal humans.

He also can turn his ability to perceive and act as well, basically turning into a form of bullet-time. It basically allows him to act fast enough to cut bullets of the air, direct swings of his katana to just disabling strikes to a foe free-falling, and generally be able to respond to threats and moves way quicker than any human could.

Son of the CEO of Veinhammer Industries: One of the leading corporations of Billion-dollar technology, he happens to be the son of the Majority stock holder and acting CEO of one of the strongest companies on the planet. This means repairs and work shouldn't be too hard to obtain, but he has to go through daddy for upgrades, as those don't come cheap and he won't needlessly give them out.

Biography: Drake is the son of Don Charles Veinhammer, CEO of majority stock holder of Veinhammer Industries. The company itself has been around for a long time, they started out in the mid-1800s as a train manufacturer, and have been on the ball about the latest gadgets since. Don Charles had during his lift-time, bought most of the stock back, getting a 65% ownership of the company and taking it back under private ruling and allowing him a lot more control of what the company does.

He had two sons and a daughter, Drake being the oldest. They lead rich, successful lives, going to amazing schools, getting the best grades, and learning the trade. When Drake was 18, their was a plane crash that his entire family was on. It was all over the news. Drake's younger brother didn't survive, but his sister did, who was 12 at the time. In that accident, she managed to get away with just some broken bones, and got away with a full bill of health. Drake on the other hand about died.

Instead, his dad decided that he couldn't lose both sons, and got the company to use some of its experimental android technology to craft a body that Drake could survive in. They did, and Drake no longer was truly a human after that. Photos showing the incident were all over the place, and shown Drake missing pretty much ever limb. So when he was seen walking around, in perfect health, they had no choice but to tell exactly what happened.

Since the exposure of the vast technology that Veinhammer Industries has, it has skyrocketed as one of the main places that people go to buy some of the most exotic of technologies. As money poured in, Don Charles realized the potential for the market, but needed a good was to advertise and show just how effective his stuff was. Drake at the time was taking quite a few different classes in self-defense, martial arts, and the like to learn how his body functioned now that it was different, and found that it allowed him to function far beyond his human limits. One day, the father brought the son in, and offered him a chance to do some good in the world, to be a superhero.

Lord knows there was enough bad guys out there, and with the entire company backing him up with equipment and repairs, he could do it. There was one odd condition, and that was that Drake was no allowed to hide his identity. He agreed, and the scientists at Veinhammer Industries went to work, crafting Drake into something dangerous.

About 2 years ago, Drake came onto the super hero scene, stopping foes in their tracks with his super-natural speed. When asked who he was, everyone was shocked when he gave them his name, Drake Don Veinhammer. Don Charles Veinhammer also confirmed, and talked with the press about his son and how he gets a chance to do some good in the world. Having such a good front for the company boosted sales to astronomical proportions, and it seemed like the company could do no wrong.

To this day, Drake still fights crime, his Katana being gifted to him on his 21st birthday by his dad for such a good job well done, and has become quite famous as well, everyone knowing of Drake, heir of the Veinhammer.

Affiliations:

Son of the CEO of Veinhammer Industries: One of the leading corporations of Billion-dollar technology, he happens to be the son of the Majority stock holder and acting CEO of one of the strongest companies on the planet. This means repairs and work shouldn't be too hard to obtain, but he has to go through daddy for upgrades, as those don't come cheap and he won't needlessly give them out.

Enemies: Drake has a hard time keeping up with these, though of note he has been targetted repeatedly by rival companies looking to smut out the good son of the Veinhammer Indrustries.

[Arhra]

BlindMime, alright that should be fine then.

Toastburner, thanks for the clarifications. You're good to go.

Inbred, I'm afraid your guy really doesn't feel like a superhero. Makes me think cyberpunk street samurai more than anything else. So not really appropriate as it currently is. Should tone down the wealth level too, probably a bit too influential.

Anyway, everyone I hear you liked actually posting in RP's so I started this RP thread!

Mmmm, exposition. The only crime you can punch for the moment is ignorance.

Editor's Note: Military projects developing transport that can accomodate a variety of differently powered individuals were much more successful than projects to create said variety of DPI's.

New Stuff: Oh like you didn't see this coming.

Editor's Note #2: Did you know water-jet cutters are used in industry to cut through several centimetres of solid steel? Amazing!

[Arcanum]

Ok I just learned moments ago that this had already started. I should really pay more attention to the RP forum. I'll be posting later tonight.